Fallen Angels Rise
by LittleDrummerGirl2010
Summary: **SPOILERS for City of Lost Souls! Be Warned** What if Clary had managed to stab Sebastian instead of Jace? What if there was just enough heaven in him that he lived? How can he reconcile his new life with his old? Rating might change, but there might be some "almosts" with Clace!
1. Chapter 1: Awaken Anew

Fallen Angels Rise

**Author's Note: **Well hello all! This is my reentry to fan fiction after a very long absence. This is my first dealing with the realm and characters of The Mortal Instruments, and I have not yet read The Infernal Devices series as of yet, so there may be some facts that I am missing out on, but as I read that, I will make sure to make include my knowledge in here.

This story came to me shortly after finishing City of Lost Souls, and as such it will revolve around a major spoiler, that being the ending. So if you have not read the book, you have now been officially warned. I hope you all enjoy this story; all constructive criticism is welcome!

**Chapter 1: Awakening Anew**

He could not tell he was awake, but only in the barest definition of the word. He didn't have the energy to open his eyes, and he couldn't feel any part of his body. He could only feel the remnants of a warm pain, like that of a fresh mark. His brain was awake, but his senses definitely were not functioning. He tried to concentrate on opening his eyes, but to no avail.

_"Okay, what about my others senses?" _He thought, as he began to try to activate the other four. He was beginning to make out what could have been the sound of voices when the darkness consumed him again.

When he woke again, he had no idea how much time had past since he last battle with consciousness. This time, he decided to take a new approach that might not overwhelm him so quickly. Instead of trying to figure out his surroundings, he focused on trying to determine what happened to put him in this state. This was an awful idea. All he could recall was the most beautiful and yet terrifying brightness and then the most painful burning sensation running through his body. The pain was like every cell of his body was being soaked in hot bleach. Having every tiny part of him scrubbed clean, yet raw. Then he blacked out again.

The third time he awake, he could sense a definite difference in his physical state. He felt stronger. Still not strong enough to open his eyes, but stronger all the same. This time, without even trying, he could hear what were definitely voices. It took all of his concentration to focus and process what was going on around him. Two women were talking to each other in low, hushed voices.

"Do you think he will even wake up?"

"I don't know. The angel said…" He lost focuses as a memory tried to resurface. He pushed it down and refocused his concentration.

"He looks different somehow."

"I agree, but everyone does when they're asleep."

"I almost feel like I need to protect him."

"Don't get carried away. Don't forget what he's done." The voice hardened, almost snapping at the other woman. He could feel the darkness coming again. The words were just strange sounds now. He fought to regain his focus. To keep listening, but the harder he fought, the worse it got. He faded back into unconsciousness.

He woke again. He could tell it was night, because his eyes had finally opened. That shock alone nearly sent him spiraling back into darkness. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. He slowly opened them again, blinking a few times, because even in the low light it was still very bright compared to the darkness he seemed to be finally escaping. With his eyes finally in focus, he looked straight up at the ceiling. It was blue with cherubs painted on it. He had never understood the fascination with the naked babies. Maybe it was because it was all he could see, but he found them beautiful. Not necessarily the images, on second thought, but he could definitely find an appreciation for the artistry it required to paint them.

Having managed to stay awake with his eyes open for a while, he decided to dare turning his head to try to take in the rest of his surroundings. He closed his eyes so as not to risk getting dizzy from the movement. When he opened them again, he saw a row of beds with silver frames. They were all identical, and they were all empty. He chanced to look the other way and found the same thing. He wanted to sit up and see what else was in this room that was quite obviously some kind of hospital. It was when he tried to move his hands in order to prop himself up that he ran into trouble. He could not move his hands. He looked down quickly. Too quickly though, and a shooting pain scorched through his head. He closed his eyes and fought back the blackness

_"My hands are restrained, I can't move them at all!" _He began to panic, began to slip away again. He took a deep breath to push back the anxiety, and that was when he felt the band across his chest. Taking inventory of his newfound sensation, he realized there was another band around his legs. He felt the darkness coming again, and for some reason he knew to not bother fighting it this time. Before it consumed him again, he experienced an overwhelming flood of despair and guilt.

This time the darkness was interspersed with flashes of the terrifying just beautiful light and the incredible pain. It was almost like sleep riddled with nightmares, but he knew these were memories, not dreams. It had been dark for a while, and then the light came. It lasted for a long time, longer than ever before. He braced himself for the memory of the pain, but it never came. It was not until he heard the voices that he realized that he was awake. At first they were indistinguishable, but they grew more and more clear. He heard a door open and some angry objections, then the voices were upon him. Right over him if he didn't know any better.

"Just let him be! The Silent Brothers said he is not prepared!"  
"We have waited long enough Jia! I –" he paused, "—The Clave, demand answers! There is no telling what he has out there right now!"

"Jia, as much as it pains me, he's right. Besides, the boy is already awake and listening to us now. Go ahead child, open your eyes."

Not knowing how the woman was able to tell he was wake, it took him a few moments to react to her gentle, but firm instructions. Slowly he opened them, the morning light hurting even more than the moonlight had. He squinted and blinked a few times. Three faces all came into focus at once, two women standing over him on the left and a man opposite them. He looked at the two women first. He recognized their voices from one of the times he had woken. The first one looked concerned and defeated. The second woman had her arms around the first in a supportive way, her eyes looking stern, but not without compassion.

When he looked at the man, he wished he hadn't. He eyes were reflecting nothing buy fury. His jaw clenched and his mouth tight. The boy recoiled, or achieved as much of a recoil as could be accomplished considering his heavy restraints.

The man spoke: "Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern, I, Robert Lightwood, summon you on behalf of the Clave to appear before the Inquisitor and Conclave to submit yourself to questioning concerning the following charges placed upon you..." Before the man could begin to read the charges, Jonathan passed out again, but not before hearing the first woman, Jia, hiss "I told you so!"

**A/N: I hope you liked chapter one! This is probably the shortest chapter of the whole series, but I liked how it ended. I will have the second chapter up very soon, so hopefully that helps draw in some people. The rest of the characters will be showing up in chapter 2 for the most part. Thanks! **


	2. Chapter 2: Injustice

Fallen Angels Rise

**A/N: **Well, as promised, here is the quickly added second chapter! It's about twice as long as the first one, and I hope you like it!

Chapter 2: Injustice

"I don't even understand why he is still ALIVE!" Jace shouted as he paced his room. "They were ready to kill him – kill ME for the Angel's sake – on sight! And now they want _him_, ALIVE?" His friends could say nothing; just stare as he continued to walk back and forth. It was not that they could not understand his anger, because they could. Five days ago they all subverted the Clave's explicit instructions to be notified immediately upon the discovery of any knowledge of the whereabouts of Sebastian Verloc, otherwise known as Jonathan Morgenstern. They avoided telling the Clave about the ritual at the Seventh Sacred Site, because they knew the Clave would not restrain themselves from killing Jace in order to kill Sebastian due to the link Lilith forged between them.

Jace stopped pacing and ran his fingers through his curly golden hair as he looked at Alec, Isabelle, and Clary. His siblings looked back at him blankly, both just so happy to see their brother alive that seeing him walk and talk prevented them from forming any kind of appropriate response.

Clary was staring at Jace too, but with very different thoughts running through her head. He was wearing jeans and a thin, white button up shirt. In his arrogance he hadn't buttoned the top few buttons, leaving his chest exposed. The way he held his hands caused the bottom of his shirt to lift up as well, revealing even more of his pale skin stretched taught over his hard muscles. A million thoughts raced through Clary's head. Some screams for Alec and Isabelle to leave, a desire to just unveil the small amount of skin left covered by his shirt, and finally, a sarcastic thought about how only Jace would think it was okay to wear such a see-through shirt without an undershirt on any day, let alone a cold one like today.

She used this last thought to push back all of the hormone induced, rather inappropriate for the circumstances thoughts, and finally managed to say something. "We don't know, Jace," she said softly, trying to convey comfort to her boyfriend who looked like he did not want to be touched at the moment.

"Well thank you for that Clary! That was _so_ incredibly helpful!" Jace sarcastically replied, only realizing too late how much venom was in his reply. Clary's face was a mixture of pain and anger, she was about to something when she was interrupted.

"Do NOT talk to Clary that way!" Isabelle shouted, "it's not her fault that the adults won't tell us anything. They won't even let Alec into the meetings as punishment for his part in helping summon Raziel."

Never learning his lesson, Jace turned on Isabelle, "Oh, NOW you have something to say? I thought you were just going to sit there and stare at me some more!"

"That's enough!" This time it was Alec speaking. Jace looked like he was going to snap at him too, but Alec spoke first. "Don't even start with me Jace. We thought you were, no. We knew you weren't dead. I knew the whole time, _parabatai. _ What we don't know is what was going on the whole time you were gone."

"I told you—them – everything I knew!" Jace exclaimed.

Alec looked frustrated by the interruption, but continued on calmly. "Exactly, everything_ you _knew. But you've even admitted that there is plenty you don't know. Jonath—, Sebas—, _whatever_ his name is! He has been with Valentine for the last sixteen years! The Clave is probably hoping to get an idea of what was going on. They want to try to stop anything else from happening before something tries to pick up where Jonathan left off." Jace's features softened as what Alec said washed over him. There was a long pause before Jace responded.

"It's still not fair. I deserve to be told what's going on," Jace said as he finally sat down on the edge of his bed. He hung his head, feeling guilty for how he had just treated his friends in his outrage.

Isabelle stood up and walked over to Jace. She kissed his hair, "apology accepted." Jace looked up at her with slight amazement in his eyes. She smiled at him and walked out of the room. Not wanting to be there for the fallout when Clary finally got a chance to reply to the way Jace talked to her, Alec hurried out after his sister, closing the door behind him.

Jace, still avoiding looking at Clary, began to breathe deeply. The calmer he could make himself before his girlfriend said anything to him, the better his chances of things turning out well for him in the end.

He managed to rid himself of all of his anger and she still had not said a word. As far as Jace could tell, she hadn't even moved from her place on his windowsill. _"She must be trying to wait me out. Being stubborn not will not get me anywhere fast though," _he thought.

Mustering up some courage, Jace finally spoke. "I shouldn't have talked to you that way, and I'm sorry that I did." He paused, finally looking at her, taking in her stance and finally looking into her eyes. Her arms were crossed over her chest, but she didn't glare at him when he looked her in the eyes. He took this as a sign to continue. "You now I love you, but no words can ever fully explain how I feel. The way I talked to you just now does little to help my explanation. I can't promise that I'll never be like that again – and you know I can't promise that – but I can promise you that every time I act so childishly, it sticks with me. Maybe one day I will finally learn, but today was not that day. I am so sorry Clary."

Jace had kept his eyes locked on Clary's the whole time he was taking. When he fell silent, he continued to look at her. She gave him a hard stare, like she was considering what he had said. She turned away and looked out the window. The silence seemed to last forever. Clary finally looked back at him, and after giving him a once over, she spoke. "Who wears a shirt like that, with no undershirt, in _November_?" Jace let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and flashing Clary the biggest grin his now-frayed nerves could muster. He opened his arms to her in invitation, which she gratefully accepted. She took three long strides over to him and he enveloped her into a tight embrace with a laugh. She replied with a tearful laugh of her own.

After brushing away her tears, Jace pulled Clary onto the bed with him. He let out a satisfied groan as she kissed him and he laid them down next to each other. The relief was short lived though, because there was a frantic knocking on the door, and shortly after Isabelle burst into the room. "Clary! Stop yelling at Jace for a sec—oh!" She blushed and closed her eyes, seeing the two of them laying next to each other. "Sorry!" She reached blindly for the door knob.

"It's fine, Iz, open your eyes. I wasn't yelling either, for your information," said Clary, sitting up. Jace muttered something about his sister interrupting some potential future screaming. Clearly backhanded him across the chest, but fortunately Isabelle didn't hear him.

Jace sat up too, grouchiness splayed across his face. "What was so important that you came running in here?" He asked with a sigh.

"Well, I'm sorry to interrupt whatever that was…" Isabelle trailed off giggling. But then she got more serious and resumed, "but we just saw Dad going into the infirmary. We think Jonathan is awake!"

Both Jace and Clary stood up immediately, their brief escapades immediately set aside. "How do you know?" Jace asked frantically.

"Well… we don't," Isabelle said, biting her lip and preparing for an assault. Clary put her hand on Jace's shoulder, but it wasn't necessary, he was remaining calm and waiting for his sister to say more, so she did. "We're pretty sure though, because mom and Jia were trying to stop him. No one makes that much of a commotion or puts up that kind of effort to see someone in a coma."

"I agree. Is there any word about what happened?" Jace inquired, now trying to appear more collected than before.

"No, I came straight here after I saw them go in," Isabelle admitted meekly.

"It's okay Iz. We should go over there and see what we can find out," Clary suggested.

"It's not use, you can't get in, and you can't hear anything through the door. Trust me, I already tried," Alec said, talking into Jace's room again. Exasperated, Clary flopped down onto the bed again.

After a momentary pause, Jace broke the silence. "Is anyone else hungry? I'm up for Taki's!" The other three looked at him incredulously, Alec's mouth gaping. No one had expected Jace to even consider shifting the focus from trying to find out information.

"Sure, I'm in. I'm starving!" Isabelle exclaimed, "I'll call Simon!" As she turned and left, Alec's incredulous face turned to one of sorrow and longing. Clary gave him an empathetic look. Alec was still struggling with his breakup with Magnus and being a fifth wheel to his siblings was sure not to help. Alec gave Clary a half smile in return and said something about going to get his coat.

Alone again, Clary turned to give Jace a quizzical look. She was highly suspicious of his change in subject and she was sure he registered this in her look. He just grinned back at her. He kissed the top of her head and then held her out at arms length, ducking his head down so they were eye to eye. "You hungry?" He asked, the same expectant smile on his face.

Not knowing what else to do, and actually feeling a bit hungry, she smiled back at him. "Yeah, sure, I'll grab my jacket on our way out. But _you_ need to put on a different shirt!" She laughed as she pushed him towards the wardrobe.

As the four shadowhunters approached Taki's, they saw Simon waving at them. Isabelle rushed over to him, and he put his arm around her to keep her warm while they waited for the others to catch up. Clary gave him a quick hug in greeting before the five of them ducked inside and found a booth. Taking their coats off and sitting down, Simon asked, "what have you guys been up to all day? I feel so left out with you all locked up in the Institute all the time!" Isabelle was about to start into a full explanation of the news concerning Jonathan when Alec put a hand on her to silence her momentarily.

Kaelie was walking up to take their order and gave them a suspicious look when she realized that the silence was because of her. They were still all highly suspicious of anyone from the Seelie Court after it got out that the Queen had tricked Clary into stealing a set of faerie rings so that she could spy on her and give the information to Jonathan. "What can I get you for?" The cheeriness in her voice sounding more feigned than ever. She didn't even flirt with Jace when he gave her his order. Clary took note and put the faerie waitress on watch.

The rest of the meal went normally. They managed to update Simon on Jonathan's current status. Surprising everyone, he was more outraged about the Clave's decision to keep him alive than Jace was. At one point, Isabelle had to slap her hand over his mouth to keep him from shouting about it. After that, he was able to keep his rage at a reasonable volume.

"I guess I'm just nervous that this will all come back on me somehow. And now with the Angel having taken my Mark, I'm just feeling vulnerable," Simon admitted.

"Simon, the Clave is not going to come after you! You did what you had to in order to try to keep me and Jace safe!" Clary protested.

"And we all saw how good I was at that," Simon replied, the anger with himself reappearing as it always did when this subject came up.

"Self-deprecating anger is my thing, Daylighter. You were better at, well, whatever angle it was you had before. I never paid attention," Jace joked, managing to lighten the mood a bit. At that moment, Clary's cell phone began to ring.

"Oh no! My mom is going to be furious! I didn't realize how late it was!" Clary groaned as she got up to answer the phone. When she returned, the bill had been pair and her friends were standing up and putting their coats on. Jace helped Clary with hers and wrapped his arms around her on the pretense of buttoning it up.

"It's okay," he whispered into her ear an gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Want me to walk you home?" Jace asked a little louder. Clary took the hand he offered her and smiled.

As they were walking out, Kaelie called after them, "Be safe tonight!" Jace turned around to look at the waitress and Clary saw the faerie give Jace a wink.

Out in the cold air, Clary turned to her boyfriend quizzically. "What was _that_ about?"

Knowing better than to play stupid, Jace replied, "Oh, I don't know. I guess should couldn't resist going an entire meal without flirting with me." Trying to resist becoming the jealous type, Clary just nodded her head in acceptance. They reached the street corner in silence where they waved goodbye to Isabelle, Alec, and Simon who were all going the other way. They were well on their way to Luke's when Jace spoke up again, "so tell me again why you're not allowed to stay at the Institute?"

"You know very well why my mother won't let me live there," Clary replied, standing on her tiptoes, only to place a kiss on Jace's chin, but smiling nonetheless.

"Oh yeah, your hormones prevent you from controlling yourself around me and my ravishing good looks." Jace stopped her and drew her in for a gentle but passionate kiss. When he broke the kiss, he couldn't help but laugh at the dazed smile playing across Clary's lips. "But really, what's the real reason that she tells you?"

"Well, she does tell me that one. The problem is though, that it would definitely not help my case to tell her about all the times when we were about to have sex but stopped ourselves." Clary giggled at the blush crawling up Jace's face. "Oh my, is that a blush I see on your face, Jace Lightwood?"

He grinned at her, than coughed. "Well then why such an early curfew?"

"Oh, because I 'have to be up early in the morning to train,'" Clary said, doing a ppor impression of her mother.

Exasperated, Jace replied, "Really? You have to come _home_ early because you have to be up early the next morning for training _at the Institute_?"

Clary could only laugh. "I know, it doesn't make any sense. I'm slowly working on her. It helps that I have Luke at least kinda on my side."

"Only 'kinda?'" Jace asked.

"Well, he's on my side when my mother isn't in the conversation." Clary laughed again. By now they had reached Luke's porch. The light had been left on, but Clary knew it was so her mother could see her the second she stepped into the light. She reached for the door and looked back at Jace wit ha mixture of love, sadness, and longing. She was turning to go back to the door when Jace grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in for another kiss like the one he gave her on their walk. It too was passionate, but it conveyed more of a sense of longing than the previous one had. Clary groaned. She already didn't want to go, and the last kiss made it even harder. But it also reminded her of something that had been nagging her all night. "Jace" she said softly.

"Yeah?" He replied, a softness in his eyes as he looked at her.

"Don't do anything crazy tonight, okay?" A look of surprise flashed across his face before it quickly went back to normal. Clary wouldn't have seen it if she didn't know him so well. "I mean it! Promise me!"

He kissed her gently, "I promise. You have my word." He hugged her and then turned to leave , just as Jocelyn's shadow was beginning to darken the door. "I love you." He said, turning around one more time to show the seriousness in his eyes.

Clary smiled back, "I love you too."

As Jace walked away, he mentally kicked himself for lying so directly to Clary. How could she have figured out he was planning something for tonight?


	3. Chapter 3: The Midnight Court

Fallen Angels Rise

**A/N: **I hope you guys are liking the story so far! The number of story follows and favorites is encouraging! Any comments you'd like to leave as a review will always be appreciated! I've got a really good idea of where I want this story to go. I currently have no intention of changing its course, unless I get a better idea while writing it or you, the readers, seem to like certain aspects more than I was expecting. Without further ado, I give you…

**Chapter 3: The Midnight Court**

It was still relatively early when Jace got back to the Institute, so he wasn't surprised that Clary responded right away to his text. They talked on the phone for a long time, chatting about anything and everything until Clary's voice began to show signs of her sleepiness and her responses were taking longer and longer. Jace finally convinced her to hang up and go to sleep, starting to feel a bit better about how he had lied to her earlier. She would probably still consider what he was doing to be crazy, but now she might at least understand. She would be angry beyond all doubt, but she would at least understand.

Carving a silence rune into his forearm, Jace began to prepare for his plan. He contemplated adding a fearless rune as well, but he did not want to make the wrong move because his thinking would be missing one of the more vital components of logic. With that, he was ready to go. The Institute was silent at eleven at night; everyone rose early and trained hard all day, so an early bedtime was only natural. Even still, the silence rune was a good idea when walking around on the wood floors.

He reached his destination and opened the door quietly, slipping inside and shutting the door behind him again. He saw two long rows of silver beds gleaming in the moonlight. In the middle of the row on the left side was the room's only inhabitant. Jace stalked over to the sleeping figure, giving himself one last pep talk. Just as he was about to prod the figure awake with his foot, a small voice came from the back of the room.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," it giggled. Jace tried to find the source of the voice. From the dark corner behind the door emerged a faerie. He had never met this one before, but there was no doubt of who sent her.

"And why not?" Jace asked, his voice full of condemnation.

"It is not my duty to explain," the faerie replied.

"Then it's not your duty to stop me either. Besides, we were just going to… talk," Jace said.

"My queen said you might try to lie to me…" She muttered softly. "Very well then, what were you going to talk about?"

Jace paused. He had been planning on saying something, but he hadn't exactly decided what to say yet. He supposed he was going to let Jonathan talk first and go from there. The faerie looked at him expectantly. "I just wanted some answers, that's all."

"Answers about what" The faerie asked innocently. Too innocently if Jace understood her tone well enough.

Suspecting his undesired audience of already knowing, Jace answered anyways. "For why he tried to rape my girlfriend, his _sister_. Why he kept my prisoner for so long. Why he is still ALIVE!" His voice had grown louder and louder, to the point where he was yelling by the end of his short rant. His screams woke up the sleeping boy, though Jace was not convinced that Jonathan had actually been asleep the whole time. Fear was obvious in his eyes as he registered who had been shouting and he soon figured out why he was shouting. "Huh, I never thought I would see fear on your cocky little face. Didn't think you were capable of it."

Jonathan stared back at Jace for a while before swallowing hard and trying out his voice for the first time. Hoarsely, he began, "you must hate me for what…"

"You're damn right I hate you! How could I not? You kept me as your prisoner, knowing full well that any obedience from me was forced!" Jace shouted.

Quieted again, Jonathan took a while to speak once more. Jace's seething and pacing did nothing to help his nerves. "Could you ever forgive me for…" his voice gave out for a second, Jace was about to reply when Jonathan continued "…for Clary?"

Any ounce of self-restraint left Jace at the mentioning of Clary's name. His full fury encapsulating him, he reached for the dagger he had hanging from his weapons belt. He had it drawn, but before he could even lunge at the boy, he was gone, leaving Jonathan blinking at empty space.

Jace hit the ground hard. He had leapt at Jonathan with full power, intending to kill the boy strapped to his bed. He had not expected to be transported elsewhere, with nothing but hard wood an dirt to catch his fall. He managed to tumble into a crouch and then to quickly turn around and face the faerie, still brandishing his dagger.

"You can put that away now, young shadowhunter. Tatya has done you a great service," a male voice announced behind him. Behind the first faerie, apparently one named Tatya, stood a soldier Jace also did not recognize. "Follow me, my Queen expects your presence." At that, the soldier began walking away, not looking to see if Jace had following him. Having no idea where exactly he was and seeing little other choice, Jace followed him.

They walked along a winding path of hallways until they finally stopped at an ordinary looking door. His escort opened the door for Jace, gesturing for him to enter the room. Jace immediately recognized where he was, the courtroom of the Seelie Queen. "Jace! What a relief to see you! The last time I talked to anyone from the Institute, you were still missing!" Though this was a true statement, for no one had talked to the Queen since Clary had, Jace knew full well that the Queen had ben in contact with Jonathan.

"Why did you bring me here?" He asked.

"And I thought you were the one with the manners… Looks like that girlfriend of yours has been no good at all!" The Queen replied scornfully. Jace turned around and began to walk away, "where are you going?!" She shouted in alarm after him.

"You brought me here in the middle of the night against my will. I refuse to stand here and listen to you insult Clary," Jace said simply, "so you can either tell me what you have to say, or I'm going to leave now."

The Queen looked him over once and decided that Jace was probably not bluffing. She sighed and dismissed everyone from the room and waited for it to empty. When it was just her, her guard, and Jace left, she spoke again. "First of all, _I_ did not bring you here. Your actions did. Tatya was under strict instructions to not let you harm Jonathan Morgenstern in any way."

"Is that what this is about? You're still supporting _him?_" Jace spat, "You still think he's going to _win_?"

The Queen looked at him warily. Her ageless face now seemed worn and tired. She looked at her guard, giving him some kind of signal. "Come with me to my private chambers Jace, we won't bother with pleasantries."

"I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers! I refuse to let you lead me around for your amusement!"

"I am not doing this for my _amusement_!" The Queen seethed, looking absolutely livid. "You will come with me now, or you will be returned to the Institute immediately. And before you even think about it, you will not be given another chance at Jonathan Morgenstern." She walked away and once again Jace was left with no choice but to follow her. Fortunately her private chambers were right off of the courtroom, separated by a small foyer. The guard opened the first set of doors for her and then took his post there as Jace and the Queen walked through them. The Queen took a seat on a large plush couch and gestured for Jace to pick any of the other available seats.

_"Of course she wouldn't have a desk." _Jace thought as he picked an uncomfortable looking stool to sit on. He did not want to risk being lulled into a false sense of security or comfort. "So before we have to change locations again, would you mind explaining why I am here?"

"Because we didn't want any harm to come to Valentine's son." The Queen replied. Jace groaned internally at the Queen's continued refusal to give him a straight answer.

"And why do you want to keep _him_ safe?"

"Because he still has a very important destiny to achieve. It is not often that one raised from the dead. There is a very special importance for those who do." The Queen grinned. She would make Jace pay for the way he talked to her in _her_ court.

Realizing she was being more deceptive than normal on purpose, Jace sighed, "I'm sorry for the way I talked to you my lady. It's just been a hell of a month for me, that's all."

"You almost sounded sincere, and from you that will more than suffice," the Queen replied, smiling slightly.

"Thank you. Now, tell me, please, why are you protecting him?" The pleading in his eyes broke the last of the Queen's steely reserve.

"Because we chose poorly when we decided to throw our support behind him," the Queen answered.

"So out of stubbornness you are keeping him safe? So you can save face? Are you hoping he tries again and succeeds?" Jace questioned, his tempter rising again.

"Of course we aren't! We had no idea what his grand plan was. Jonathan Morgentern was the master at giving just enough information to enough people. We were only told so much, but what we were told seemed like a complete plan. We—I—am now trying to make amends."

Jace stared at her, jaw clenched. As an immortal, the Queen could not speak a lie, but she was surely very clever a manipulating words. However, he had never heard the Seelie Queen speak so earnestly to anyone before. "I still don't understand. Why keep him alive if you are trying to correct your mistakes?"

The Queen smiled, "I wouldn't call our decisions mistakes, just choices made without full knowledge of their consequences."

"Semantics…" Jace muttered, "but you _still_ haven't told me why you need him alive."

"That's because that knowledge is not for me to share with you." Jace stood up, shaking in rage. He couldn't believe the Queen was still toying with him. He was about to yell at her when she spoke again. "Sit. Down. It is not that I _will _not tell you, it is that I _cannot_. Valentine created a boy with a very special destiny that no one could even fathom at the time. Do not cause any harm to Jonathan Morgenstern, Jace Herondale!" Jace was again about to talk when she started again. "Stop, I can tell you no more! Take these words to heart and consider them carefully! It is time for you to leave. Tatya will return you to the Institute." Before he knew what was happening, Tatya appeared out of nowhere. She linked her arm through his and the next thing he knew, he was in his bedroom, alone.

His brain was full with confusion and anger. Not only was he thwarted in his plans permanently, but he also had a million questions buzzing through his head. He sat in the leather chair by the window for a long time contemplating the conversation he had with the Seelie queen. He hadn't realized how much time has passed until he began to see the rich pink hues on the edge of the horizon marking the sun's rise. He sighed in realization that he was going to regret this at some point today. He got up and went to go get in the shower. When he toweled off, he put on his training pants and headed down to the kitchen, shirtless, to get some coffee.

As he was pouring himself a freshly brewed cup, he felt a small pair of arms wrap around him from behind. "Well good morning to me!" Clary murmured sleepily. In her hand in front of Jace was an empty mug. He took the hint and filled her cup too. He turned around and placed a kiss on top of her head before carrying their mugs over to the island counter. Jace watched as Clary poured what he considered a disgusting amount of sugar into her cup and stirred it slowly. She looked up at him as she was about to take her first sip, but then she put the cup right back down. "You didn't sleep last night. What happened?"

There was no sliding anything passed her anymore. "I just had a lot on my mind," Jace replied, which was not untrue.

"Well why didn't you say anything about it while we were on the phone last night?" Clary asked, looking hurt.

"It didn't come to me until after you fell asleep," Jace said, an apology in his eyes. Clary was about to reply when Alec came into the kitchen.

"Does anyone know why there's someone standing outside the Infirmary door guarding it?" Alec asked, pouring himself some coffee too. Clary, having been about to forgive Jace, instead shot him a look, immediately suspicious of him and what could have possibly happened over night to cause a guard to now be posted.

"Don't look at me. Maybe he's a flight risk?" Jace offered.

"I thought he was strapped to the bed…" Alec trailed off, seeing the look in Clary's eyes and not wanting to do anything to dig Jace into a deeper hole.

"Are we talking about Jonathan? There's a guard outside the door! They must be getting ready to question him with the sword! Aw man, you guys didn't leave me any coffee!" Isabelle pouted.

Jace snorted into his cup, "If we let you have coffee, you'd be running your mouth twice as fast as you are now." Isabelle play hit him on the shoulder before turning to make more coffee.

"Do you really think the Conclave is going to question him so soon?" Clary asked.

"So soon? It's been five days! Our whole world is on edge about him. The Clave is probably getting a lot of pressure for information," Jace replied, very eager to shift the conversation away from how he had spent his night.

Before the conversation could continue though, Maryse came bustling into the kitchen. "Oh good, you're all up. Off to training with you! The earlier the better, shoo shoo!" She pushed the four out of the kitchen, Isabelle taking a longing look at the coffee just now beginning to percolate into the pot.

As they walked to the training room, Clary chanced a look behind her and saw a group of shadowhunters shuffling out of the elevator. It could only mean one thing. The Conclave was assembly. They were finally going to get some answers.

Jonathan was awake, he had gotten up with the sun. Someone had brought him a small breakfast. At the first bite, he realized just how hungry he was, but then he also realized how weak he still was. The act of chewing was exhausting. He felt the need to put the food down and lay down for a moment after eating only half a piece of plain toast. He eventually got through his meager breakfast and was surprised to realize how full it had left him.

A little while later a woman came to see him. It was one of the women who was there when he first woke up. The one with the harder eyes. Now that his head had cleared, he recognized her as Maryse Lightwood. His stomach knotted, he suddenly wished he hadn't eaten anything. "Don't panic. I'm only here to explain how today's proceeding are going to go." And she did just that, despite Jonathan's knowledge of the Mortal Sword and its uses. He was afraid of what would come from his questioning. He had definitely broken the law, probably all of them. He probably caused a few new laws to be created, prohibiting acts that were previously unthinkable.

Jonathan realized that Maryse had finished talking and was staring at him expectantly. "What was that?" He asked nervously, afraid of what would result from not paying attention.

"I asked if you were ready to go," Maryse said, somewhat curtly.

"Oh yeah, I supposed I don't really have a choice in the matter." He stood up and held out his wrists for the cuffs he knew were coming. Maryse had to struggle to hide her suspicion with his compliance. Not only was she expecting a fight, but she was also expecting some nasty comments to go with it. A jab about her dead son maybe. She now felt almost guilty about the four shadowhunters she had waiting outside, ready to spring into action at any sign of a struggle. She led him out into the hall and the four other shadowhunters formed a square around them. They walked in silence to the council room, making the short walk seem to take far longer than it truly was.

Walking into the room, Jonathan looked all around him. Staring right back at him was a sea of faces, none of them even bothering to pretend they weren't staring at him. Jonathan was stood before the council and his escort took their places. Standing directly in front of him, but up on the dais, was the other woman who he had seen upon waking up. The room fell silent and Consul Penhallow began to talk. "Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern, you have been charged with…" she read the list, focusing on his conspiring with Valentine and his most recent treachery, but not failing to mention the handful of murders for which he has been personally responsible. "Today we will begin questioning you on these charges chronologically, starting with the first and moving forward to the present. If you are ready, then I will let the Inquisitor begin his work."

Jonathan nodded slightly, his mouth beginning to feel very dry. The Mortal Sword was brought out to him and placed in his hands, but the cuffs stayed on. Robert Lightwood, apparently having been appointed the new Inquisitor, began. "What happened to the real Sebastian Verloc?" Jonathan took a breath and then he began to talk.

For the next week, Jonathan went through the same routine every morning. He would submit himself completely to the Conclave for four hours. At lunch he would be dismissed for the day. He assumed the Conclave spent the afternoon discussing his answers and coming up with new questions. Each day after his dismissal, Jonathan would be lead to a different room at the Institute where he would be locked away and guarded until it was time to answer more questions. He took the constant change in his location as a good sign. The Conclave did not want to risk someone finding him and killing him. At least he was still important enough to be kept alive, for now.

Then one morning came when Maryse was not there to lead him down to the courtroom. He knew immediately what that meant. The Conclave was done questioning him. They had all of the information they wanted. Jonathan tried to relax at the thought that he would soon know his fate, but a powerful anxiety soon welled up inside his chest. He had been given his chance to talk. Nothing he had to say would reach the ears of the Conclave from here on out. Had he said enough? He always talked way beyond the means of all the questions. Had he said too much? Could he even be forgiven for some of the things he did? He began to pace the room.

At noon there was a knock on his door. _"An answer already?" _He thought, filled with both excitement and dread. But it was just his escort coming to move him to a new room. For three days it was the same thing over and over again. Then, on the fourth day, the clock struck noon, but nobody came to move him to a new room. For the first time in almost two weeks, he ate lunch in the same room two days in a row. He could barely eat any of the food though, because he knew what the afternoon held for him.

Sure enough, when the lunch hour was up, Maryse was at his door. Her expression gave away nothing of the news he was about to hear. She just looked tired. As usual, they walked in silence. When Jonathan entered the council room again, he noticed far fewer people than on his first day. Apparently watching the Conclave debate his freedom had grown tiresome for the onlookers. Jonathan stood up tall, facing the council before him. He was committing each of their faces to memory when Consul Penhallow stood up and began to speak.

"Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern," he winced. He now associated haring his full name with being handed down some kind of incredible trouble. "Upon full review of your testimony provided during your inquisition, the Conclave has decided, with the backing and authority of the Clave, to permit you to remain a shadowhunter. You will not be stripped of your marks or exiled in any way."

After two weeks of maintaining a normal cycle of consciousness, Jonathan blacked out, but not before a sense of total shock registered through his entire body.

**A/N: **Was anyone surprised? Angry? Thinking it should go a different way? Don't abandon the story yet! I promise it won't turn into an "everyone loves everyone now!" kind of deal. Again, any reviews would be greatly appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4: Beginning Again

Fallen Angels Rise

**Author's Note: Thank you to all who have been reading this, it's great to know that there actually is an audience and I'm not just writing to no one! To those of you who left reviews, they were greatly appreciated! I tried to get back to those who left any specific comments. These first three chapters were really setting up the story, now I'm going to begin getting things rolling with the plot. You've been patient and willing to continue to read, for which I am also grateful. Without further ado, I give you…**

**Chapter 4: Beginning Again**

Jonathan woke up in a daze. Light was pouring around him. He was in a bed. Had he just dreamt everything? Was he still waiting to hear his sentencing? His stomach turned into one giant knot, he needed air. He flung the covers off and ran to the window. He opened it and was about to lean out when someone spoke. "I wouldn't do that." He froze. Jonathan did not realize there was someone else in this room with him. He took a step back from the window, not wanting to make any move that might be considered out of line when he still wasn't sure of his standing with the Conclave. "You can g to the window, I would just be careful when it comes to sticking any part of your body outside the walls of the Institute." Still hesitant, and now rather cold because of the blast of cold December air that came through the window, Jonathan closed the window and turned around to face Maryse.

"You probably have some questions for me, but let me explain a few things to you first. You have been permitted to live, but you are not free by any means. No one is really quite sure what happened that night, but every member of the council determined individually that taking a cautious approach would be the best idea. As a whole, we review everything you said, and for a second time it was decided that you have undergone something we do not fully understand," Maryse paused, trying to decide what to explain next.

"I would have said everything I did without the Mortal Sword in my hands," Jonathan said quietly. He was trying to remember everything that had moments before seemed like a dream to him. He winced though, realizing that his wording could be misconstrued and lead this woman to believe he was still some kind of psychopath who was not ashamed of his wrongdoings.

"That is all well and good, but you are still not to be trusted. We believe that something drastic changed when your sister," She paused momentarily to see his reaction to the use of the title for Clary, "when your sister stabbed you with the Angel's sword. It is because of our limited understanding of this divine process in combination with our reluctance to spill any more shadowhunter blood that helped lead us to your verdict. However, there are a number of safeguards in place in case we were wrong in our decision."

"So what does that mean for me?" Jonathan asked, completely unsure of what to expect.

"First and foremost, until you can prove and convince us of your trustworthiness, you are completely confined to the Institute. You may not leave these walls unless you wish to suffer great pain and soon after death." Maryse looked sideways at him, unsure of how he would react, but fearful that she would incite him.

"I understand. What else is there that I need to know?"  
"You will also not be allowed in common areas for a while as we inform the permanent residents of your presence and your rights." Jonathan looked shocked. He could not believe Maryse had not yet told her children, the 'permanent residents' she spoke of, everything there was to know about him and his trial.

Humbled and trying to show it, Jonathan replied, "I appreciate you taking this so seriously and being so professional. I know it must be hard not telling your children, and even more so because of what I have done."

Instead of responding, Maryse continued with her explanation, but she had stiffened considerably at the referral to Jonathan's murder of Max. "All of your meals will be brought up here to you, and you may have any books brought to you from the library, with a few exceptions." By this, she meant any books dealing with summoning demons or other such dangerous topics. Jonathan nodded, demonstrating that he understood, but not wanting to speak because every time he did, his words came out wrong and just made him appear to not have changed at all.

"Lastly, if, and this is a BIG if, it is decided that the time is right, we will have you undergo a diagnostic test so we can evaluate your skills as a shadowhunter and determine what areas will need improvement. It is our hope that you will prove to be trustworthy and that you might eventually become a regular member of the shadowhunter world. But it is a long road to get to that point." Maryse finished.

Jonathan considered all that she had said before speaking. "I guess I still don't understand why all this is happening this way. I did such horrible, unspeakable things. I broke every law. I should not have been allowed to live. IT all seems too good to be true."

"In all honesty, none of us really understand what is going on. You are very fortunate to be facing the Conclave in the aftermath of the new Accords. These changes are the most dramatic we have seen in shadowhunter history, and we are not willing to undo them so quickly. You are also dealing wit ha governing body who recognizes heavenly intervention when they see it. Your body was absolutely ravaged by Heavenly Fire and yet you are still with us." At that, Maryse stood up to leave. "If you want any books, tell the guard stationed outside your door." With that, she turned and walked out the door.

His head spinning from trying to reconcile all of the new information, Jonathan sat on his bed in a daze for a long time. His room darkened as the winter sun began to set. His stupor was only broken by the arrival of his dinner. As he ate, he continued to contemplate his new life.

"So, did you like my dress?" Clary asked, snuggling into the crook of Jace's arm to protect herself from the chilling evening winds.

"Yeah! It's gonna look great on my floor!" He exclaimed, pulling her in closer as they walked, managed to protect her from the winds more while also pinning her arms so she couldn't smack him.

Clary gave her boyfriend a look. "I mean it! I'm going to feel so awkward up there being the only one next to my mom!" Jace stopped walking with such suddenness that Clary had continued forward without noticing right away, only to have Jace pull her back in by her wrist. He leaned down to kiss her, softly at first but he got ahead of himself and deepened the kiss. When he finally broke the kiss though, he held Clary out so he could see her better.

Tiny snowflakes were falling softly into her hair, the first snow of the season he though. "I loved the dress, you look amazing in it." He kissed the top of her head and then looped her arm around his and they continued walking. Clary could only smile, this fitting was _much_ better than the one she'd had only a few weeks ago. Though the dinner afterwards was a bit tense. Jocelyn still id not particularly care for Jace, especially while she still blamed him for Clary hatching her plan to infiltrate 'Team Bad.' "Is there anything I can do to get your mother to like me? If only just a little bit?"

Clary thought for a second before responding. "Well, why don't you just try sitting down and having a conversation with her? But if you don't think you can remain calm, I actually wouldn't suggest that right away."

Jace contemplated the idea and realized that Clary was probably right. But how could something so simple feel so daunting? Preferring to just spend the short amount of time he had left with Clary for the evening enjoying her company, he shoved the thought to the back of his mind. He knew finding a middle ground with Jocelyn would be key to getting more time with his girlfriend.

"So, you have 45 minutes until I have to give you up again for the night. What would you like to do?" Jace asked as he held the door open for Clary to walk into the Institute.

"Oh, I can think of a few things," She replied, turning to look over her should and wink at him. She played with her hair and walked towards the elevator, trying her hardest to seem seductive as she walked. They climbed into the elevator, Jace hurriedly shutting the gate before pulling Clary in close to him. Not wanting to lose a single second, Clary stood on her toes as Jace bent down to kiss her. He quickly had her pushed up against the wall, cradling her face in his hands. Clary was about to respond in kind when the elevator came to a stop and Jace quickly pulled away, winking at her.

Normally Clary would have made some kind of comment to Jace about always worrying about nothing, but at the same moment, Maryse was visible through the golden grate. "Oh good, you're here. I wasn't thinking I would catch you until morning. We need to talk." The older woman said. Clary groaned internally.

"Can this wait until morning? I don't have very long before I have to get back home," Clary asked.

"The sooner we talk the better. Besides, I'm sure Jace would prefer that you not take any time out of your training just to talk to me. And don't worry about your mother, she and I have already talked. So if you will, come with me please." Clary had no other choice, Maryse meant business. Clary could not imagine what could be so serious and important that Maryse Lightwood would need to talk to her, of all people, so urgently. Whatever it was, it could not be good. She followed Maryse to the library, which she had been using as an office now that nobody else wanted it.

"Am I in trouble for something?" Clary asked, taking a seat as Maryse did the same.

Maryse smiled back warmly, "No no no! Of course you're not in trouble! Is that what you thought this was about? No, you are doing just fine!" Her tone was just too forced for Clary to not become uncomfortable.

"Then what _is _this about?" The smile gone from Maryse's face now, she looked hard at the young girl sitting across from her. She knew what she needed to say, but now, in the moment when she was about to say it, she couldn't. Not want to stall any longer, she opted to be professional, leaving all personal connections and emotions out of the conversation.

"The Conclave has decided to permit your brother to live." Clary looked as if she had been slapped. A stunned silence permeated the room, but Maryse wanted to determine Clary's true reaction before pressing forward.

"I don't have a brother," Clary responded darkly. She got up to leave, too angry to continue talking.

"Sit. Down! We are not done," Maryse snapped, her temper rising as quickly as Clary's. "You have a brother, and he is upstairs, whether you like it or not!"

Clary wheeled around, "He's HERE?! You kept that, that _demon_ HERE? How could yu keep him at the Institute? How is he not locked up for everything that he's done? How is he still _alive_?" She screamed, her throat starting to hurt from the effort and the tears she was holding back.

"He was subjected to questioning with the Mortal Sword. When the council reviewed the entire case, we came to the conclusion that Jonathan should live," Maryse replied calmly, which only served to anger Clary more.

"Don't be so familiar. How could you – How _dare_ you treat him this way after you kicked Jace out after you only _thought_ he was Valentine's son?" Clary demanded accusingly.

"I made Jace leave to try to protect him from the Inquisitor. I was afraid of what we would find out, and I still regret what I did. You know that perfectly well, so don't go throwing that in my face!" Maryse replied severely, a cold fury edging her voice. Clary did not reply, she only looked at Maryse with contempt. The older woman took a deep breathe to calm herself once more before talking again. "As for how we could come to this decision, it's complicated to explain. We heard all he had to say about everything he'd gone through in his life. We discovered the kind of childhood he had, we found out what Valentine had done to him while he was still in your mother's womb."

"You're letting him off the hook because he had a bad childhood?! Serial killers had bad childhoods, but they still go to jail! They don't get to run free…" Clary started in on another rant, but Maryse cut her off.

"He has not been 'let off the hook,' and if you would let me finish you would know this," Maryse interrupted loudly. Clary stopped talking, despite her anger, Maryse still deserved respect. "Good. As I was saying, we learned of his demon blood, and it changed everything. When we heard that, we were calling for his immediate death. That is, until the faerie's representative reminded us of _what_ he was stabbed with, and the effects we witnessed. There is little information on the effects of Heavenly Fire, and next to nothing on surviving it. It is because of this that we were motivated to keep your brother alive. But as I said, he is not free."

"So he's an experiment? You're using his life for research?" Clary asked, most of her anger suppressed in an attempt to have a civilized conversation. She had finally realized that the calmer she was, the more information she could get.

"No, he is not an experiment. He happens to be fortunate enough to be the first major case to come before us since the new Accords. We are trying to learn from our old mistakes. Trying not to be so quick to extinguish life. We don't know what the encounter with the Angel's sword will mean for him or who he is or will be. But again, he is not free. He is as free as Hodge was. There is a curse upon him that may never be lifted. He will live out his life here, unable to leave ever again, potentially," Maryse explained.

"But why does he have to be here?" Clary asked, tears streaking down her face, unable to hold them back any longer. "How can you let him live here, walking around our home so freely after what he did to me? After what he did to Jace. After what he did to Max!" Her tears came down harder now, silencing her as the sobs wracked her body.

Maryse looked close to tear now too, "There are a lot of awful things in his past, many I would give my life for to see retribution. But those are my feelings as a mother. The official decision required the utmost level of professionalism from me. He is here though _because_ of what he did to Max. The Clave thought Robert and I would be the most untrusting of Jonathan, the most careful in deciding what privileges to grant him. That the future of all shadowhunters would be safest from Jonathan Morgenstern if his life was monitored and controlled by us. It is part of his punishment, having to live with the family of one of his victims."

Clary could only nod through her tears. She didn't agree with the decision and didn't want Jonathan to be anywhere near her, but she understood. There was a long silence as Clary continued to cry, Maryse just letting her get it all out. As the tears stopped, leaving Clary sniffing, Maryse spoke again, "Do you have any other questions for me?"

"Why are you telling _me_ all of this? Does anyone else know already?" Clary asked quietly.

"We have plans to tell my children and your parents, but you are the first person to be told in a non-official report. As for why we are telling you first, well we were hoping you would be available to help prevent Jace from becoming destructive after he is informed. I say we, but I really mean I. Jace is my son as much as Alec is, and so I know how much this information will hurt him. I also know that he will be angry with me," Maryse admitted.

"He won't be angry with you, he'll just be angry in general," Clary said , hoping her meager addition might comfort Maryse.

"I'd prefer him to be angry with me. Then he might talk to me, even in anger. But you're right, it will be a general kind of anger. You will be the only one he will want to talk to while he works through all of this," Maryse was not lying, and Clary knew it as well.

"I'm not going to tell him what to think. He won't listen to me anyways if I try to do that," Clary pointed out.

"I am not asking you to convince him of anything. I just want your help in marking sure he doesn't do anything to get himself hurt or in a stupid mess. I don't need him picking fights with whole packs of werewolves again." The desperation in the older woman's voice was apparent.

"That is the first thing we've seen eye to eye on all night. I will do whatever I can to keep him safe, but you have to make him the next person you tell about all of this," Clary requested. "He won't be so willing to listen to me if he thinks I kept this from him for any amount of time."

"I planned to tell him right after you and I had talked. My hope was that you could stay and talk to him after he and I were done speaking," Maryse explained.

"I'm not sure if I can, even if I leave right now, I will be getting home passed my curfew," Clary began.

"I have already talked with your mother and told her that you will be staying here tonight. She agreed, but she and Luke will also be here. They have your things for you." In the short time that Maryse had spoken, Clary's hopes soared and then crashed into a pile of burning rubble. "There's no need to look so disappointed. I wouldn't have let you spend the night in Jace's room either. My children may make their own sleeping arrangements, but I know it is against your mother's wishes for you to do so."

Looking defeated and having nothing else to say, Clary excused herself from the library and from Maryse's gaze as a look of concern began to glaze over her eyes. Opening the door, Clary was looking down at the ground in hopes of finding Church and having him lead her to wherever Luke and her mother were staying. Instead, she was almost knocked back into the library. She would have fallen down if it weren't for the pair of arms that wrapped around her. She tensed up, thinking for a second that she ahd run into Jonathan, but then the all too familiar smell of Jace flooded her nostrils and she melted into the embrace. Trying to hold back her tears and failing somewhat, she whispered quietly, "Your turn."

He held her for a little bit longer, stinging tears staining his shirt. He comforted Clary until her breathing returned to normal. "I won't be long, and then we can talk about whatever this is," Jace promised. Clary nodded her head and was about to speak when Jace kissed her ever so gently. He pulled away and smiled at her. She was still feeling miserable and drained from all of the emotions that she experienced during her conversation with Maryse, but the hint of a small smile crept up in the corners of her mouth as he walked into the library.

Standing alone in the hallway, Clary took her best guess at where her mother might be. She walked in the opposite direction of Jace's room, quickly discovering that her hunch had been right. As she approached the open door, she steeled herself. Her mother did not yet know about Jonathan, and Clary wasn't going to be the one to explain it to her. She hoped her eyes weren't too puffy and red from her crying, because she didn't want to worry her mother all night either. She took one last deep breath and knocked on the doorframe.

Luke looked up and smiled when he saw her. "There she is! I was wondering when we would see you!"

"Same time you do almost every night, it's only just now getting to be near my curfew," Clary joked, making her best efforts to seem in a good mood.

At the sound of Clary's voice, Jocelyn came out of the bathroom, "Clary, what are we doing here? Why did Maryse want you to stay?" Jocelyn asked, her voice full of exasperation.

"Well, I'm here because Maryse needed to talk to me, you're here because you don't trust me to control my hormones through the night," Clary retorted, sticking to her joking tone, but also deciding that not being just a little bit scathing would be suspicious.

Her mother only rolled her eyes and kissed Clary on the cheek. "Your things are in a bag over there," she said, pointing to the corner, "and your room is the next one over. I do trust you a little bit!"

"No, you just don't want me sharing a room with you and Luke!" Clary stuck out her tongue. The childish act seemed to be working well, she would have to keep this in mind.

"Leave your mother alone now, she's already gotten herself worked up over this twice tonight," Luke chided lovingly. "Why don't you go get ready for bed, it's probably going to be a long day tomorrow." Clary nodded in agreement and turned to leave when it hit her. How could Luke not know what the outcome of the trial was? Had he abstained from participating and sent someone else in his stead? Clary was about to ask, but couldn't phrase her question without giving everything away.

She walked into her room next door and it looked exactly the same as the one she had just left. She changed into her pajamas and did everything to get ready for bed, but she did not plan on going to sleep just yet. She climbed under the covers and pulled out her sketchbook. She was trying to draw Jace again when she fell asleep. The next thing she knew, the lights had been turned off and someone was climbing into bed with her. A warm pair of strong arms drew her in close, her body melting into the embrace as she fit into place perfectly. She quickly fell back asleep, a real smile on her face as Jace buried his into her hair.

**A/N: See, I said we were starting to get places. Let me know what you thought! **


	5. Chapter 5: Choices

Fallen Angels Rise

**A/N: **I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter out, but life got very busy all of a sudden. Also, this chapter is where things start to get a bit complicated, so I wanted to get the characters just right. I didn't want to let the story just flop and have things fall nicely into place.

Chapter 5: Choices

When she woke up the next morning. Jace wasn't there anymore. Realizing it was still very early, she got out of bed and headed for the door, hoping to sneak into Jace's room to spend a few more hours together. She didn't get very far into the hallway before she spotted Jace's receding figure. He was still in his clothes from yesterday, but looking disheveled from having slept in them.

Jace paused for a second, and without turning around, said aloud "Go back to sleep Clary." He must have just left her room, his leaving being what woke her up. He continued walking away.

"Do you want to talk about it?" That made him stop. He turned around, and in a few quick strides, Clary was being crushed by his embrace. She held him tightly too, knowing no other way yet to express that she was there for him as much as he was there for her.

After a long silence between them, Jace finally spoke. "What he did to you, what he tried to do to you. I promised that I would _never_ let that happen again."

"How can you be so worried about me when it's you who was possessed by him? I've been so worried about you since I found out," Clary exclaimed.

"And I've been worried about you, that's how this love thing works. I'm going to do everything in my power to get him out of here," Jace declared.

Clary broke away from the embrace and looked up at Jace. She wanted to examine his face, look into his eyes and figure out what emotions were charging this declaration. "Jace," she hesitated. She needed him to know she was on his side. "I want that too, very badly. But Maryse made it very clear that he wasn't going anywhere. This is her chance to make sure that the person who killed her son, your brother, does not get off lightly."

Jace looked hard at her, as if he thought she was trying to persuade him into thinking the monster was worth giving a chance. He soon realized and accepted the truth of her words though, having heard the same thing from Maryse the night before. "We have to start training."

"It's still very early Jace, training can wait for its regular time. This conversation isn't over," Clary replied.

"I didn't mean we had to start today's training. I meant you have to start training harder than before. I'm guessing that they haven't been allowing _him_ to train, and it's been almost a month. His skills may not be diminishing, but now if your chance to catch up or pass him in strength, agility, and speed. You _have_ to be ready. I will protect you as much as I can, but you have to be able to protect yourself if anything were to happen –" Jace was cut off by Clary speaking up.

"Don't. Don't even think like that. Nothing is going to happen to you. Lilith was the one who bonded you and him, and she is gone and so it the bond. You will always be Jace, real Jace. My Jace," Clary decreed. He responded by pulling her back into an enveloping hug and holding her there.

He kissed her on the top of her head and dropped his arms, taking hold of just her elbows and turning her around. "Go back to sleep."

Twirling back around defiantly, Clary replied, "But we didn't even talk about this! Besides, I'm not even tired!" Then a yawn betrayed her.

"We will have plenty of time –more than we probably want—when Alec and Isabelle find out. Until then, _go back to sleep! _ I can't kick your ass in training if you're sleeping!" Jace joked, a light smile coming to his face.

Clary gave him the stink eye. "You can't kick my ass if you're asleep either!" She stuck out her tongue, then her face softened. "Come with me," she begged.

Jace groaned, the problem he was hoping to avoid now blaring at him loudly. He was still a teenage boy after all. "You know I want to, but you also know that I can't. I was able to spend part o the night with you, and that will have to be enough for now. I am not going to ruin any future chances of you staying here."

Not failing to see the logic in what Jace was saying, but still not happy with the response, Clary begrudgingly returned to her room alone, but not before demanding a kiss from Jace. And a kiss she got. She walked back the couple of steps to her room feeling dazed and a bit dizzy, but lighter than she had since she first heard the bad news.

She crawled back into bed and laid down, expecting to end up not falling asleep, but to her surprise, she instantly felt tired again. Closing her eyes, sleep came quickly and easily. In what seemed like no time at all though, her alarm was going off. She felt so groggy now, wishing that she hadn't gone back to sleep. Earlier she had felt tired, but able to make it through the day. Now though, she felt like her body was too heavy to even get out of bed.

Clary finally managed to drag herself out of bed with the resolution of taking a shower. The hot water seemed to slough off the heavy feeling and wake her up more. Coffee would have to solve the rest of her problem. She put on the black pants she usually wore for training and a simple white t-shirt. As she walked down to the kitchen, she pulled up her still wet hair and tied it back to keep it out of her face.

Walking into the kitchen, Clary learned she was the first one up. As she set the coffee to start brewing, she realized just how glad she was that Jace had gone back to sleep. She decided to take the coffee to him and was working on getting the door open with both hands holding a cup when the door opened for her. Jace walked in and would have walked straight into her had his reaction time been any slower. He managed to sidestep her with a smile and Clary grinned back at him while holding out the mug. He went to take a sip before pausing, "Did you put any sugar in this?" Jace asked cautiously. Clary rolled her eyes at him.

"Of course I didn't! I know very well how you like your coffee!" He only smiled back, drinking eagerly from the cup. He looked as tired as Clary felt, which she assumed meant that he was even more tired than her. "Did you get much sleep last night?"

"No, not really," Jace admitted. Clary looked at him worriedly. "But not all of it was because of the monster. I didn't want to sleep and miss a moment with you."  
"Wow, I'm impressed. I feel both very loved and very guilty all from one sentence," Clary joked. "Here you are, spending sleepless nights holding me and I was probably snoring the whole time!"

"Not the whole time…" Jace stared, flinching prematurely at the hit he was sure would come. Clary only shot him a glare, he beamed back at her, "They were cute snores though, mostly."

"Not helping yourself. But I'm glad to see you've maintained your sense of humor, despite the circumstances," Clary said.

"I'm still seething on the inside, but _you've_ done nothing wrong. I learned my lesson the hard way, but I know now not to take my negativity out on you," Jace replied. Clary stood on her tiptoes to kiss him, but even to reach his check she had to make a small hop.

"Thank you. I know it can't be easy, especially after what he did to you…"Clary trailed off. "You don't want to talk about this right now, do you?"

Jace shook his head; "I don't want to talk about it at al. But I know that as soon as Izzy and Alec hear of it, that's _all_ we'll be talking about."

"Then we won't talk about it until then. Where are those two anyway? It's not like them to be late," Clary noted, just now realizing her friends' absences.

"I'd assume they're being told everything we already know," Jace replied.

"Oh, I thought Maryse would be telling my mom and Luke first. So what do we do?" Clary asked, realizing all too soon what the answer was going to be.

"We train" Jace answered matter-of-factly. "Let's go!" He picked up Clary and threw her over his shoulder playfully. Jace carried her out into the hall before putting her down, relenting only because of the scene she was making.

"That wasn't funny!" Clary gasped as a giggle betrayed her.

"Apparently it was!" He moved to pick her up again just to make the laughing start all over.

As Clary continually ran away from Jace's feigned attempts at carrying her, they made quick progress towards the training room. It was as empty as they expected, with just the two of them occupying the large space. "What are we going to work on today, oh wise one?" She giggled.

"We're going to find you a specialty weapon. It's about time you began focusing on something in particular as you also train for competency with everything else. I'm thinking something ranged, for my sanity more than yours," Jace began.

"What do you mean?" Clary asked, her laughter gone.

Jace looked exasperated, he sighed, "A ranged weapon is one that…"

"I _know_ what a ranged weapon is! I meant what did you mean about your sanity?" Clary clarified.

He looked relieved," Well, if you're using arrows, or something, then you will be above or away from the heart of most battles, so you will be safer," Jace replied.

"As precious as your sanity is to me, I'm not sure that I'd be good with anything that required that high of a rate of accuracy. So unless I can specialize in hand grenades, I think we'll need a new approach," Clary stated.

"Accuracy can be learned," Jace stated, completely brushing off Clary's concerns. "I'm thinking chakrams."

""You want _me_ to throw sharp metal discs? Because you're worried about me staying safe in battle?" Clary asked sarcastically.

"Well, I figured since they were Luke's weapon of choice that you'd like to learn to use them as well," Jace said.

"I just don't think it would be a good fit for me, what about arrows, like Alec?" She suggested.

"That might work. Teaming you and Alec up would give you almost complete coverage all the way around any scene. But he might not like sharing," Jace replied, only half jokingly.

"Tough luck, I'm going to pick bow and arrows because it's the only thing I won't look ridiculous wielding!" Clary decided. Jace could only smile and off a small laugh before they set to work on beginning Clary's new training.

Maryse looked apprehensively at the pair across from her. She had never been very close to Jocelyn or Luke back in the days of the Circle. They were too close to Valentine for her to have had much interaction with them at the time. But they were her friends now. She had to tell them, at least Jocelyn, what had been decided about her son. This thought immediately brought on a new wave of panic. Would Jocelyn even allow Jonathan to be referred to as such? She suppressed the panic, deciding it was better to just get things over with.

"The Conclave has made a decision about Jonathan," she began. Luke and Jocelyn looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue. "It has been decided that he should be allowed to live." Maryse went thought the whole explanation, detailing how and why the Conclave came to its decision. This being the fourth time now that she'd given the speech, she didn't miss any details. When she finished, she waited for the explosion of rage.

But it never came. Instead, Luke and Jocelyn sat in silence contemplating everything they'd just heard. Luke was the first to speak. "Well, I'm glad that the new accords have not been abandoned so quickly. It's great to see the Conclave creating opportunities to change rather than hiding behind the fear of recurring behavior."

Jocelyn looked at Luke and seemed as if she was about to speak, but then she looked back down at her hands, which were folded in her lap. The longer Jocelyn went without speaking, the more nervous Maryse became. In an attempt to keep the conversation going, she turned to Luke, "I do think we've made the right decision. And if it turns out we were wrong, there is a lot of security measures for us to fall back on." Luke only nodded in reply, his attention now focused on his fiancé.

Another long silence passed, and then Jocelyn finally spoke. "I want to see him." Luke and Maryse both looked at her, stunned. The last time she saw Jonathan, she had tried to attack him and Luke almost died.

"Well, I'm sure we can find a time soon to arrange for that," Maryse replied, hesitantly.

"I'd like to see him now. He's here and he can't go anywhere, now is the perfect time," Jocelyn answered.

"Are you sure that's the best thing to do right now?" Luke asked, putting his hand on her shoulder supportively.

"I want to see my son," was all Jocelyn said in reply. Luke and Maryse exchanged an exasperated look. Neither of them could think of a reason for why Jocelyn could not see Jonathan. At least, they couldn't think of any reasons that she would find acceptable.

"Alright, if you want to follow me, I'll show you where he's staying," Maryse relented, just now realizing that Jocelyn had called the boy her son. She was not expecting that, at least not so soon.

They approached the door to Jonathan's room and Maryse gave a small nod to the guard. "Why is he being guarded?" Jocelyn asked, alarmed. Maryse was about to reply, relieved that she wasn't going to have to go through this after all. "Is he not safe here? Is Jace trying to hurt him?!"

A cold fury ran though Maryse. She and Jocelyn may be becoming friends and would most certainly become family after Jace and Clary got married, but right now, she owed this woman nothing. "Jace has done nothing! The guard is here because we don't yet know if _your_ son is dangerous or not."

"I can take things from here," Jocelyn said dismissively.

"Jonathan is here under my watch, so I shall insist upon being here for your visit," Maryse replied, using her official voice, imbibing it with all the authority she could muster. Jocelyn scowled slightly, but conceded in the end. They knocked on then door and then walked into the room.

Jocelyn looked straight at the boy sitting in the chair next to the window. He had been reading, but was looking up at them now, a slightly confused look on his face. Jocelyn just stood there, taking him in. The last time she'd seen him, he was standing in the dark kitchen at Luke's place. She wanted a good look at him now. He looked her straight in the eyes, "Mom?" His voice was barely audible both from unused and uncertainty. He cringed slightly, regretting calling her that so soon, regretting being the first to even speak. He had no idea why they were here, and he went ahead and used the most familiar title someone can use for a female figure.

All eyes were on Jocelyn; she was still staring at Jonathan. He looked into her eyes again and she broke. She began to cry, and she rushed over to where Jonathan was sitting and drew him into an embrace. Luke looked shocked beyond belief. This was the last thing he had expected to happen. A few moments passed and soon Jocelyn began to collect herself. She loosened her grip around the alarmed looking boy. "Your eyes. I've finally seen your eyes, your real ones!" Confusion swept the room, but Jonathan quickly realized what she meant. He was too scared to talk though.

"What are you talking about Jocelyn?" Maryse asked.

The other woman took a deep breath to steady her voice. "When Jonathan was born, his eyes were a horrifying darkness. It was beyond black. It was like looking into the depths of hell. I was so ashamed, being so repulsed by my own child. But you," She turned to Jonathan, "you are not that person. You have his memories, his face, but you have my eyes." Luke looked, it was true. The boy had the same green eyes he had spent so much time looking into recently.

"I don't understand. Is there because of the Heavenly Fire?" Maryse questioned, looking between Luke and Jocelyn.

"That's the only thing I can think of," Luke replied, still staring at his fiancé, who had removed herself from the boy and was now sitting on the arm of the chair.

"Would anyone believe me if I said that I believe – know, that I'm different?" Jonathan asked, hopefully. Jocelyn replied with a resounding yes, the other two remained silent. Jonathan looked up at his mother, not able to fully comprehend what was going on. Was this all an act? Was she going to try to hurt him? "So, you're not going to kill me?"

Jocelyn looked at him aghast, silent tears falling down her face, "Of course not! You're my son, and that has never been more clear than right now."

"I guess I'm just in shock right now. I didn't expect to have anyone up here, let alone you. And I did _not_ expect the first time you saw me to go like this. I didn't expect to see you at all actually. I thought you would avoid me because of what I did to Luke…" Jonathan admitted, trailing off as guilt rose up in him over the incident at Luke's house.

"Well, I don't know exactly what made me come up here, but when I saw you, it was as if I was seeing my true son for the very first time. Like it should have when I first held you in my arms the day you were born. I'm so sorry for, I'm so so sorry," Jocelyn replied. Jonathan was not sure what to say back. The door creaked open and everyone jumped, but it was just Jonathan's breakfast being delivered. It was still morning, but Jocelyn had lost track of time. Looking at her watch she realized it was almost ten.

"Jocelyn, we'd better go if we're going to make our appointment with the cake people," Luke said, suddenly eager to go to the appointment he'd been dreading. He would do anything to get out of that room. The whole scenario was strange to him, and everything felt off. He would need to talk to Jocelyn about this more in private.

Jumping at the chance to end this get together, Maryse spoke up, "Oh yes! You don't want to miss that!" Jocelyn attempted to protest, but Luke grabbed her by the elbow and half lead, half pulled her out of the room.

"We can talk more this afternoon, Jonathan!" Jocelyn shouted over her should, still struggling against her fiancé's grasp. And she would return later to talk to him.

"You're absolutely _awful_ with that bow!" Isabelle exclaimed, walking into the weapons rom with Alec following closely behind her. Jace sent her a scathing glare, but it was true. Clary had not managed to shoot any of the arrows anywhere near the giant target.

"Thanks for your support," Clary retorted darkly. She knew she was bad, but having it shouted like that did nothing to help at all.

"Arrows are _my_ thing," Alec said, partially miffed about the encroachment, but mostly amused by Clary's lack of talent or aim.

"We're just trying out some ranged weapons. Clary needs to specialize in something," Jace explained.

"Just give her a sword, she did pretty well with that!" Isabelle said. She received three incredulous looks in return.

"Swords aren't ranged weapons!" Alec yelled, not entirely catching the joke, leaving Clary and Jace to explain their looks.

"Oh don't look at me like that! I was just kidding!" Isabelle replied. Clary and Jace looked less concerned, but that did not last very long. The topic of conversation was now shifting to Jonathan. "Did you hear about the news yet?"

"Yes, we have," Jace answered gruffly. He still had no desire to talk about _him_. Clary put a reassuring hand on his arm.

"How do you two feel about Jon—" Clary began.

"DON'T! Don't say that monster's name," Jace interrupted.

Clary looked at her boyfriend with raised eyebrows, she wasn't expecting that kind of reaction. Choosing her words more carefully, she started again. "How do you feel about him being here?"  
Isabelle looked at Alec, he only shrugged. "I hate him, so I'm glad he's here. We will know immediately if someone is trying to communicate with him, and we can make sure he isn't trying to hatch some plan to escape," Alec said. Leave it to him to be seeing the sound logic in the decision.

"That's easy for you to say, you're the only one who hasn't been attacked by him!" Isabelle shouted, her anger coming seemingly out of nowhere.

"Izzy, that's not fair! He's still hurting just as much as you are about Max!" Clary cried in Alec's defense.

"You don't need to protect me Clary. I'm sure you can't possible agree with me," Alec replied, still calm despite his sister's outburst.

"I'm not quite sure what I think. I hate him very much, but I think death is too easy a punishment for him. I don't want Jace to have to be anywhere near him, but I also think you guys deserve to oversee his captivity," Clary explained. "I just… I guess… I don't know. I don't want to ever have to see him again, but just knowing he's lurking around here somewhere makes my skin crawl."

"I can't believe you! He killed my brother! Sweet, innocent Max! And you don't want to see him _dead_?" Isabelle explained.

"He didn't mean to kill Max," Alec said, not meaning to come to Jonathan's defense, but doing so accidentally in trying to calm his sister down.

It had the complete opposite effect. Isabelle's eyes widened into a vehement glare, her jaw clenched tight, and Clary swore she heard the girl growl ever so quietly. "Don't. You. DARE…" Isabelle began, shrieking louder than before.

Speaking even louder than her, in a booming, commanding voice, Jace yelled "STOP!" Panting from his frustration, Jace waited a moment to continue. "You don't know what it was like being his prisoner for all that time. I still have all of my memories from when I was that other version of myself. I still remember the devotion that person felt to the monster. Every day was like living in a nightmare. I went along with everything he did, but it was always with this feeling of something ringing in my head. It was like I'd constantly forgotten something. I realize now that it was my real self trying to break through, that it was myself that I'd forgotten. Since he's been here, I've had the constant feeling that he and I were still inked somehow. Not in the same way, but that there is still some kind of link. I… I tried to kill him that night we found out that he had woken up. But as I was about to do it, the Faerie Queen had one of her servants whisk me off to her court."

"What?! That was weeks ago! How did you not tell me about this?" Clary exclaimed, hurt and somewhat angry that he had not been open with her when she was always expected to be that way with him.

"Because I'm still trying to understand everything that happened," Jace said. "She was acting very odd. She seemed apologetic all while still infuriatingly vague."

"Well, what did she say?" Isabelle asked, her anger having sapped away while Jace had been talking.

"She said that they still had to protect him from any harm," Jace admitted darkly, a bitter taste coming into his mouth.

"Why would the faeries be trying to protect J… him?" Isabelle questioned, catching herself before she said his name.

"I don't know, the Seelie Queen wouldn't tell me. She said he still has a destiny to fulfill. Said that there is a special importance for people who raise from the dead," Jace replied.

"But Jace, you raised from the dead," Clary said quietly, her eyes glistening with the threat of tears.

Jace's face softened when he look at his girlfriend. "She wasn't taking about me. She referred to him by name. When you can't tell a lie, it's hard to work around a direct identification like that." Clary nodded in acceptance.

"You never finished what you were saying," Alec said, "about your view on this whole mess."

"I will never feel any ease about him being anywhere near Clary, but I do see the logic in him being under our watch. I'd rather him just be dead, but we can't guarantee that he'll stay that way. I hate this, but him being kept alive and imprisoned here is the best way to ensure our safety from him," Jace stated.

"Irony does not stay out of our lives for very long," Alec replied, putting his hand on Jace's shoulder. The four all fell silent for a while, contemplating the resolution that had unwillingly reached.

"This is all too heavy for me, and I need to see Simon. Let's ditch training for the rest of the morning and go out to lunch," Isabelle suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement. They all went to their rooms to change, the training clothes not being the best to wear outside.

When they had all bundled up to face the cold winds outside, they met in the foyer and climbed into the elevator to head out to eat.

Simon was none too pleased to hear the news about Jonathan. He was more outwardly angry than Jace was, but that was no true measure over who was more impacted by it. Jace was much better at hiding his emotions, though anger always proved the most difficult. The four shadowhunters talked their vampire friend through the conversation they had – they decided it would be best to downplay the fact that it was an argument—and he too saw the logic. As with the rest of them though, he was still not happy with the arrangement.

Nevertheless, getting out of the Institute and away from training for even part of the day had done wonders for Clary's spirit. She was all smiles and giggling when they had to return from lunch. Not even the thought of going back to picking a weapon had damped her mood. It was because of this joy that she so willingly engaged in conversation with her mother upon running into her and Luke while getting off the elevator.

"Oh Clary! We were wondering when you would get back. None of you thought to tell us that you were leaving?" Jocelyn said, the tone of a slightly disapproving mother ringing in her voice.

"Sorry! We just went out to lunch to blow off some steam about this whole Jo—thing." Isabelle replied, again almost saying Jonathan's name, but deciding not to in order to keep Jace smiling as long as she could.

"It's not a problem" Jocelyn replied, smiling a bit too much than the situation called for. "We just didn't know when you would be back! Now, if I could talk to my daughter real quick. You guys go on ahead, she'll join you in a minute."

Clary became slightly suspicious of her mother who was normally not so doting, but she had little choice. Jace squeezed her hand comfortingly before letting go of it and walking away down the hall towards the training room. "What's this all about mom?"

Jocelyn looked at her daughter, the odd smile still on her face. "Well, Luke and I have decided that while you are in training every day, you should stay here at the Institute during the week, and with us on the weekends."

Before she could do or say anything, Clary's mouth dropped open wide in a mix of shock, disbelief, and definite suspicion. The suspicion won out in the end, "What's the catch?" Clary asked.

"Why do you think there would be a catch?" Jocelyn asked.

"Don't play games with her, just tell her _your_ condition," Luke intervened. Clary didn't like the emphasis he made on it being her mother's condition. This meant he didn't support it, and there were very few things in the world that would be good in Clary's mind if her mother supported it and Luke didn't. Jocelyn sighed and gave Luke a look that Clary couldn't quite figure out. Was she looking for support?

"Alright, there is one condition for you staying here. You will continue your training as normal, but you will be completing your studies with your brother." Jocelyn said.

Clary's stomach dropped, and she was sure she was going to throw up. Anger quickly filled every inch of her body. This was an impossible choice.

**A/N: **Again, I apologize for taking so long to update this chapter! But as a reward for your patience, it was the longest one yet by far! Hopefully you enjoyed it, and hopefully I can get the next one out faster. The story should start picking up from here. Leave a review if you'd like!


	6. Chapter 6: Moving In

Fallen Angels Rise

A/N: Again, my apologies for the time it took. I have a new writing schedule that should make getting chapters out a faster process, hopefully. Anyways, hope you like it!

**Chapter 6: Moving In**

"What?!" Clary exploded, her voice full of shock and anger. "Do you even _know_ what he tried to do to me?"

"He's different now…" Jocelyn began, trying to sound comforting.

"He tried to RAPE ME! You wouldn't let me stay here because you thought Jace and I would have sex, but you're just fine putting me in a room for extended periods of time with someone who might try to force himself on me, AGAIN!" Clary shrieked.

"He's different now," Jocelyn said, any hint of comfort now gone.

"You don't even know what he was like before to know that," Clary replied coldly, tears stringing her eyes, but she fought hard to prevent herself from crying.

"Well, no one said you had to accept the deal, I was just informing you of the offer," Jocelyn said, the false sweetness coming back into her voice.

"Yes, I'm sure you weren't even expecting me to consider the deal, it's not like that was something I've wanted since we got back from Idris," the sarcasm in her voice could not have been more scathing. "Though I'm not really sure why I'm considering it anyways. You two will probably be moving in as well, so it won't even matter."

Jocelyn was about to reply, but Luke put his hand on her shoulder, silencing his fiancé momentarily. "We will not be moving in to the Institute, you can be sure of that. We won't even be checking up on you with Maryse." Jocelyn turned to give Luke a look, apparently he was making promises that hadn't been discussed. Looking at Jocelyn, but continuing to talk to Clary, Luke continued, "You'll have plenty of time to tell us all about it when you're with us on the weekends."

Smiling for the first time since the conversation began, Clary looked at him, "Do you really mean that?"

"No he does not! I am your mother and…"  
"And you need to learn to start trusting her. Maryse promised to make sure her studies were going as planned. If Clary holds up that end of the bargain, she deserves your trust at the very least." Luke interrupted.

Jocelyn did not look happy, and that made Clary realize she was winning this one. "Okay, I accept the deal on _those_ terms."

"Then it's settled, we'll get come boxed for you and you can pack up your things tonight, we can help you move in tomorrow. That'll give us time over the weekend to paint your room and get you any furniture you will need," Luke said quickly, before Jocelyn could get a word in otherwise.

Clary only nodded, her confusion with the whole situation still apparent. It was not until Luke attempted to leave that Clary found her voice again. "Why do you want me to spend time with _him_?"

"Because he's different now," Jocelyn replied.

"So you've said, but I think I deserve a better explanation than that," Clary retorted, her temper rising quickly again.

"Because he's your brother and my children need to learn to get along. Besides, you had no problem living with him just a few weeks ago," Jocelyn explained, her last words carrying a good deal of contempt. She still had not gotten over Clary's decision to run away in order to save Jace. However, it was mostly Jace who bore the brunt of this attack.

"And if he tries to hurt me again?" Clary asked.

"He won't," Jocelyn responded, matter-of-factly.

"But just hypothetically, what if he does?" Clary asked again, clearly frustrated with her mother by this time.

"Then you'll move back home with us, because then obviously it isn't safe here for you," Jocelyn answered.

Clary made a noise of disapproval, but she really couldn't argue against that point. Besides, if Jonathan tried to hurt Clary, Jace wouldn't be at the Institute either; he would be on trial for murder. "I need to get to training," Clary said before walking away. She knew the rest of the conversation would be going nowhere fast.

"We'll see you tonight, but work hard this afternoon!" Luke called after her cheerily, trying to smooth things over between the two women in his life. Clary gave him a thumbs up to let him know that she'd heard him.

Making her way towards the weapons room, Clary had to quickly process all that had happened in the brief hallway meeting. She was already beginning to feel an intense nervousness taking over her at just the thought of telling Jace her decision. He was not going to be happy, but Clary had to defend her reasoning, even if she wasn't completely certain of what it was.

She opened the door to the weapons room and was shocked to only se Jace in there practicing with a serif blade. "Where are Isabelle and Alec?" Clary asked. Jace did not respond, but her question was soon answered as she saw her two friends walking towards her, their arms full of all sorts of weapons. They laid them all out neatly in a row, and Clary realized the task at hand for the afternoon.

"Which one do you want to try first?" Isabelle asked, spreading her arms out to gesture to all of the choices.

"Why don't we get rid of the ones I know I won't be good with?" Clary suggested. Everyone agree, and they quickly eliminated throwing axes, javelins, sling shots, and darts of all varieties.

"I think we may just want to give up on your hope of a ranged weapon, Jace," Alec said, looking at the small collection of weapons left.

"What, you didn't think Clary would be good with a boomerang?" Jace joked.

"I can try throwing stars," Clary offered, doing her best to keep Jace happy. She didn't want him to already be upset about something when she told him her news.

"We can give that a try," Jace replied casually. He must have been trying really hard to keep the skepticism out of his voice. He showed Clary how to hold the stars and then how to throw them properly. Her first few attempts failed completely, but by her fourth try, she was already getting close to perfect form. Her aim was off, but she quickly proved that she had the other necessary skills. This appeared to be almost a natural talent for her.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Clary shot Jace a big smile, "Accuracy can be learned, right?"

He smiled back at her, laughing a bit at her repeating his words from before. "That's exactly right, and I'm sure you'll learn quickly," he placed a light kiss on top of her head.

Clary managed to avoid having her conversation with Jae for the rest of the afternoon. He was so focused and so excited about her training with the throwing stars that everything else seemed to slip his mind. She thought she was in the clear and could put things off for another day, but she was sadly mistaken.

Maryse had cooked dinner for everyone and was making small talk with her children and Clary when the secret came out. "So Jace, are you excited?"  
"Excited about what?" Jace asked, slightly confused.

"About Clary moving in, of course!" Maryse replied. The room went silent and the three Lightwood children looked at Clary. "Did I ruin the surprise?"

"I hadn't told them yet," Clary said meekly, but trying now to play it off as just a surprise. No one needed to know the other half of the bargain just yet.

A squeal interrupted Clary's reverie. "How could you keep this from us? We'll have so much to do to get your room ready! Do you know how you want it to look yet?" Isabelle shrieked excitedly, her words blurring all together as she grabbed Clary's hands.

"I can't believe you got your mom to agree to let you live here. That's a big step in your maturity," Alec said.

"Yeah, how _did_ you get your mother to agree to this?" Jace asked suspiciously. Clary shot a glance to Maryse that begged her not to say anything else. The older woman got the message loud and clear.

"Can we talk about this later? I'm starving!" Clary hadn't been hungry since she first heard the terms of the bargain, but she would rather force herself to eat than confront Jace with this right now in front of everyone.

Reminding everyone of the food that would soon grow cold seemed to work out well for Clary. Everyone hurriedly refocused their attention on dinner. Everyone that is, except Jace. He kept shooting Clary looks that clearly expressed how far from over the conversation was about how Jocelyn suddenly changed her mind. For Jace, that connection was clear, because the only other sudden thing in Jocelyn's life was the reintroduction of her son. Clary pretended to ignore these looks, instead choosing to indulge Isabelle in conversation about possible colors for her room. Only once Clary had gotten lost in Isabelle's endless list of shades of blue and what they would do for Clary's eyes had she had enough.

"Is anyone else finished? I'll take your dishes for you!" Clary asked, standing up and bringing the conversation to an abrupt end.

"Oh why thank you Clary! I can definitely get used to this!" Maryse said cheerfully, before giving her children a look.

At least we clean up after ourselves," Alec mumbled in response to his mother's stare.

"I'll help you with those Clary. That way we can get back to your house faster to pack up," Jace said with feigned innocence. Clary groaned internally. In her lack of forethought, she didn't account for the possibility of giving herself alone time with Jace.

"Thanks, that'd be great," Clary replied, a little too much indifference in her voice. She instantly felt guilty, she wasn't mad at Jace, she was just afraid of his reaction to the news. His only crime was caring about her and wanting to know what new crazy thing his eventual mother-in-law had concocted, because it would mean more things from which Clary would need to be protected.

Upon entering into the kitchen, and to make up for her coldness from moments ago, Clary put down the dishes she was carrying and kissed Jace as passionately as she could manage. Jace managed to put his dishes down without looking and he returned to the kiss. He wrapped one arm around Clary's waist to pull her closer as the fingers of his other hand found themselves tangled in her hair. He broke off the kiss and rested his forehead on Clary's, smiling despite his concerns. He let the world catch up to him as the effects of the kiss settled.

Holding Clary away from him slightly, he looked into her eyes. "What's this all about? I know your mother would not just change her mind like that," he asked, keeping his voice level and inviting. The last thing he wanted was to put Clary on the defensive. She lowered her eyes from his gaze and bit her lip. In that instant, Jace decided to never let Clary know what kind of magic power that simple action had over him. Controlling his wandering thoughts, and a little more frantic than before, Jace asked, "What did you agree to do?"

Clary finally looked back up at Jace to return his gaze. She was searching his eyes for some clue or hint of anger. All she saw was concern and love. She took a deep breath and swallowed back the sob that was threatening to accompany the tears pooling in her eyes. "I'm going to be doing my studies –" Her voice failed her. One more deep breath. "I have to do my studies with my brother." There, she'd said it. She only had a split second before the massive wave of anxiety crashed over her. It felt like an eternity before Jace spoke. Clary was sure she would drown in her panic before he would begin to respond.

"It's not worth it," Jace finally said. Clary only gave him a puzzled look. "I can't let me greed and desire put you in any sort of danger, let alone the ultimate danger. I just can't do it."

"It's worth it to me Jace. I can't spend my whole life afraid of my brother. Why not overcome that fear in a controlled setting and get to spend the nights with you at the same time" Clary rebutted. Jace seemed surprised at her point, but Clary had been playing this conversation out in her mind all through dinner.

"The answer is still no. Nothing is worth losing you, and nothing is more unforgivable to me than letting you go into such a situation without a fight," Jace replied.

"This is my decision to make Jace, and I've already made it. I know my priorities, and this lines up perfectly with them," Clary said more firmly.

"I get to make a decision as well, and I decide that I'm not going to come to your room at night and you may not come to mine. It's not something I take lightly, and it's in no way easy, but my number one priority is keeping you safe. If denying myself the pleasure of spending the night with you accomplishes that goal, so be it," Jace declared.

"Well, I'm still moving in," Clary said softly, tears beginning to spill down her cheeks. She had at least hoped for Jace to find happiness in the news for a few moments. He pulled her in close again, letting her heard rest against his chest as he tangled his fingers in her hair again. He kissed her hand and continued to hold her as she dealt with the conversation. There was no need to say out loud what they both knew. One of them was going to out stubborn the other, and Jace was sure it would be him. Damn this girl and the power she had over him.

That evening, Clary and Jace went to Luke's house and packed up the things she would not need while she lived there on the weekends. The following day, Isabelle and Clary managed to pick a shade of blue paint after only half an hour of staring at paint samples at the store. By the evening of the next day, the room next door to Isabelle's went from being the same as all the other rooms at the Institute to one that matched Clary's tasted perfectly.

"It'll be quiet at the house without you," Luke commented, bringing in one of the last boxes of Clary's things. Despite the chill outside, he was sweating.

"Maybe she shouldn't leave," Jace remarked, setting a box down just inside the door before walking away. Clary looked at the space he'd just occupied fretfully.

Noticing her look, Luke took a few steps towards her and put a fatherly arm around the girl he'd always seen as he daughter. "Don't worry about him, he's just worried about you. Besides, it's not even you making him angry, it's your mother!"  
"What are we saying about me?" Jocelyn asked walking into the room, looking more carefree than Clary could ever remember seeing her.

"We were just wondering where you were," Clary lied. She had no desire to tell her mom that Jace wasn't happy with the deal that they had made. Jocelyn would find far too much pleasure in that.

"I was up talking with Jonathan while I had the chance. He's eager for your time together tomorrow afternoon," Jocelyn replied.

Clary felt her stomach drop as she swallowed hard, trying not to sputter in her shock. In all her excitement about the move, she hadn't thought to ask when these study sessions would begin. It hit her all at once that of course they would be starting tomorrow, because Jocelyn would want to waste no time in collecting on her end of the bargain, just as Clary had with moving in.

"Is something the matter?" Jocelyn asked, innocently yet knowingly. A sly grin playing across her face, "if you don't want to do your lessons with him we can just move you back into your room at Luke's."

"No, that's not it! I just.. I wasn't prepared for the weekend to be over, that's all!" Clary said chalking up another victory for her unusually quick thinking.

"Well it looks like that's all of it!" Luke interrupted. "Do you want any help unpacking?"

"No, I think I'll be okay on my own. Thank you for all your help!" Clary replied, giving Luke a genuine hug and smile.

"I guess we'll be leaving then! Good night Clarissa! We'll see you on Friday!" Jocelyn said, hugging her daughter and kissing the top of her head before walking away.

When they left, Clary was only alone for a short time before Isabelle showed up to help her unpack. They made quick work of the job and were soon sitting in the chairs be the window admiring their handiwork.

"Wow! Looks great Clary!" Alec said, walking in through the open door.

"All compliments can be directed towards your sister!" Clary beamed.

"She knew I was talking to her too," Alec replied with a wink. "I brought you a welcoming present!" He held out in his hands an ornate looking box made of wood. The lid of the it had the Fairchild family crest carved into the center.

"Did you make this yourself?" Clary asked, feeling very touched.

Alec nodded his head eagerly "open it!" He urged. Clary did so and revealed a lining of fine green silk, and at the center was sitting a stele.

"Oh Alec! This is too much!" Clary gasped, jumping out of her seat to hug her friend around his neck, careful not to drop her gift.

"It's from all three of us," Jace said, just now stepping into the room. He nodded in Isabelle's direction to indicate her as the third person.

"We figured what good was a shadowhunter without a stele?" Isabelle joked, joining the hug between Clary and Alec.

"It's still such a major gift, I'm not sure if I can accept this guys!" Clary exclaimed, tears of happiness beginning to form in her eyes as she stopped out of the hug.

"Well you have to!" Alec answered, as if that put an end to everything.

"Just don't drop tis one into a pond full of water that will kill you, deal?" Jace asked, pulling Clary to his side and wrapping his arm around her waist. She playfully swatted at him, barely making any contact, before relaxing into the embrace that shared. Jace had been rather distant all weekend out of protest to the move and its impending consequences.

"Well, it's getting late and this weekend has worn me out. I think I'm going to go to bed," Isabelle said, grinning wickedly. She had noticed the physical contact between her friends.

Alec looked down at his watch and then looked up in confusion. Isabelle quickly shot him a look and he caught on. "Oh, yeah, I think I'm going to turn in too." They both quickly made their exists, Izzy giving Clary one last excited hug before leaving and shutting the door behind her.

As soon as they were alone, Clary looked up at her boyfriend. "So does this mean you're going to stay with me tonight?" Clary asked.

"No, I am not going to reward actions that cause you to be in so much danger," Jace replied immediately. As he talked, he turned to face Clary and pull her in further.

"Oh, I had just thought that you'd changed your mind, that's all," Clary said, very solemnly now.

"I came to the realization that even though I don't agree with your actions, I am still, and always will be in love with you. I never want to miss a moment with you, and avoiding you is the exact opposite of that," Jace explained with such incredible tenderness in his voice.

Clary only nodded. She was no doubt disappointed by having to sleep alone tonight, but she was comforted by the fact that Jace was not angry with her. Jace stayed for a little while longer, as they laid down together and began to kiss. Before anything could escalate though, Jace got up, gave Clary one last kiss goodnight, and then left, leaving her wishing and longing for the day when they would fall asleep together and wake up together in the morning.

That day came sooner than she thought, because when she woke up early the next morning – hours before her alarm – Jace's arms were wrapped around her and he was fast asleep.

**A/N: **So was this worth the wait? Let me know in the reviews! Hope to have the next one up sooner than two weeks from now.


	7. Chapter 7: Lessons in Patience

Fallen Angels Rise

A/N: Argh, I didn't make my writing goals. Life is going to be crazy for about another month, but then everything will die down really fast. My goal is to get three or more chapters out between now and then. I was hoping for some reviews on that last chapter, it took me a while and I want to make sure I'm getting things right, at least in terms of your expectations and wishes. Anyways, on to the story.

**Chapter 7: Lessons in Patience **

Upon realizing that Jace was next to her, Clary smiled sleepily to herself. Checking the clock on her nightstand, she realized it was just after four in the morning. Her alarm being three hours away from going off, Clary decided she could spare a little bit of time to stay awake for a short while. She turned around to face Jace and kissed him. This brought him out of a dead sleep, but he was not quite awake. She kissed him again and his eyes opened lazily.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"Shhh, that doesn't matter," Clary replied, silencing what he was about to say with another kiss. Jace pulled her in closer to him, wrapping one arm around her waist and moving his other hand up to her hair. He could never get enough of feeling those ringlets wrap around and then slip through his fingers. He returned the kiss, deepening it further.

Clary moved to climb on top of her boyfriend, but he stopped her from doing so, "Not right now," he said. She looked at him with concern.

"What's wrong? Is everything alright?" Clary asked.

"Nothing is wrong, this is all so _very_ right," he said, his voice rather husky due to just having woken up. "I'm just exhausted right now. I'm here because I was up late thinking about what tomorrow afternoon holds. I realized that I am being forced to leave you alone with the monster and then I couldn't bear the thought of choosing to leave you by yourself when I didn't have to."

Looking into his eyes searchingly, Clary tried to see all that she could about the feelings of the boy laying next to her. "It'll all be okay! You can be right outside the library the whole time, if you want, and my lessons won't take very long." She tried again to straddle Jace and he still prevented her from doing so.

"If it's alright with you, I'd rather wait to do tis until I'm _not_ thinking about your… _brother_."

Clary rolled onto her side, her back now turned to Jace again. "Fine, we can wait," she said with a sigh.

"Thank you," Jace said softly, knowing that she'd still stay upset. He drew her in close and held her there as they went back to sleep.

Three hours later, the alarm went off. Clary reached up to hit the snooze button and then buried herself under the covers again for the next nine minutes. Jace groaned as Clary wiggled herself backwards into him. He drew her in close and kissed the nape of her neck, nuzzling into her. Inhaling her scent, he held on to her more tightly.

"Well good morning to you too!" Clary said softly, realizing she wasn't going to get back to sleep. She was still slightly miffed about Jace's disinterest from earlier, but his current advanced plus Clary's realization of how tired they both were caused her resolve to quickly deteriorate. Jace loosened his group on her just enough to allow Clary to turn around and face him. She craned her neck up and kissed him lightly, but in his eagerness he deepened the kiss right away.

Jace pulled Clary up on top of him, as she wished to do earlier, and looked up at her. She sat up, rising until she was sitting up straight, making her torso perpendicular to his. "God you're beautiful!" Jace murmured breathlessly and barely audibly, putting his strong hands on either side of her tiny waist.

Giving Jace a sultry look, Clary bit her lip before leaning down to kiss him again. Their hands were immediately all over each other's body, exploring places that had been forgotten in their lack of private time. Just as things were beginning to heat up more, their unlucky streak continued with a sharp knock on the door. Clary sprung off of Jace, rolling next to him, pulling the covers up to her neck. Jace groaned loudly, his frustration clear.

"Clary, are you awake?" It was Maryse.

Giving herself a moment to compose herself and try to settle her racing heart, Clary replied, "Yeah, just enjoying my firs morning here!" She winced as she heard herself, her voice still rather shaky.

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure you got up okay. You know where the kitchen is and when training starts." They could hear her receding footsteps.

Clary let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She turned to look at Jace who flashed her a devilish smile. He kissed her again, catching her by surprise. "So, where were we?" Before Clary could reply, her stomach let out a long, low growl. She blushed as he looked at him sheepishly.

"Sorry…" She began.

"Don't apologize for things that are out of your control," Jace replied. "Besides, you can't escape me for too much longer." He winked and then kissed her lightly before getting out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Clary asked, a hint of a whine in her voice.

"I have to go change my clothes. I'll meet you in the kitchen," and with that he turned to leave.

"Wait! Don't go yet!" Clary exclaimed. Jace turned around, looking slightly confused, slightly exasperated. Before he could say anything though, Clary was out from under the covers and launching herself at him. She jumped and he caught her effortlessly. She wrapped her legs around his waist. Then Clary gave Jace the most passionate kiss she could muster, and it was powerful. She broke off the kiss, leaning back slightly to smile at him.

"Well that was unexpected," Jace said neutrally, the hint of a smile tugged at his mouth though, betraying him.

"I didn't want you to think I wasn't interested," Clary replied, unwrapping her legs from around his waist and sliding gently to the floor.

"How could you not be interested in_ me_?" He asked cockily.

She gave him a look, still wishing she knew how to raise just one eyebrow. "Go get changed, I'll meet you in the kitchen." He stole one more quick kiss from her and then did just that.

After breakfast, training began like normal. Clary was somewhat disappointed that the desires from the physical affection from that morning were seemingly not still lingering for Jace as they were for her. He was very focused, determined to be productive this morning.

Instead of continuing to practice with the throwing stars, Jace wanted Clary to master some defensive moves. Clary was fully aware of his motives and went along with it, she would have to learn these eventually. But when she'd been flipped and thrown on her back for what felt like the hundredth time, she'd had enough.

"Jace, I'm obviously not going to learn this stuff today, can we work on something else?" Clary asked.

"No, these are important. Get up, we'll try again," Jace replied. Clary stayed where she was on the floor. It made her feel like a child, but she ached too much to care. "Clary, you_ have_ to know how to defend yourself," Jace said, his voice pleading.

Getting to her feet, Clary moved towards Jace and held his hands in hers. Looking up into his eyes, she said, "I know I do, and I will learn to do so, it'll just take some time."

He looked away from her, down towards the ground. "You don't have any time," he said solemnly.

"Jace…" She began, trailing off as she waited for him to look at her again. When he finally did, she continued, "I'm not very pleased with the arrangement either, but we can't prevent it from happening anymore. It's just going to be two hours, and then I'm good for another day. I can't learn all of these defensive moves in one day, and if we keep trying, I might learn maybe one, but I'll be too sore to actually do it if I need to this afternoon." Jace did not fail to see the logic in her statements, but was still not thrilled.

"Fine, but training isn't over. Go get the throwing stars, I'll se t up the targets," he said with resign. Clary stood up on her tiptoes, managing to kiss him on the chin and thanked him.

They spent the rest of the morning working on her accuracy and fine-tuning her form. Right before lunch, Jace was able to just sit back and watch Clary throw.

"You know she can't take those with her this afternoon, don't you?" Alec asked quietly, coming up behind Jace to watch.

"I thought I could sneak one out and give it to her right before she went in," Jace replied.

Alec smirked. "Of course you did. But you know perfectly well that she will be fully shaken down. They're still protecting him from us."  
"Is Maryse really that suspicious of Clary?" Jace asked.

"No, you're just that predictable," Alec replied with a snort. "I wouldn't worry too much about Clary though, she'd resourceful and has already shown once before that she can hold her own against – him."

Jace sighed, looking over at Alec now. "Sometimes I wish I didn't care so much."

"Don't ever wish that," Alec replied, somewhat harshly. "Don't ever wish away your ability to love and show your love. It's more important than you think."

"Alec, I didn't mean to…" Jace began, shocked by the sudden change in the conversation.

"It's alright. We don't need to talk about it," Alec replied, turning to walk away.

Calling behind him, Jace said, "Don't let your ability slip away." Just as Alec was about to reply, Clary released a shriek of excitement having hit a series of targets perfectly. Alec just gave Jace a halfhearted smile and proceeded to leave to wash up for lunch.

"Did you see that?" Clary exclaimed.

"Yeah! That was great!" Jace lied, his mind still on the conversation with Alec. He felt a bit guilty that he hadn't been paying attention to Clary, but she would probably understand if he ever had to explain. "Why don't we leave on a high note and go get washed up before lunch?"

Clary bit her lip but then nodded her head and walked towards Jace. "Oh wait! I've got to go clean up," she paused, and went to turn around.

"Don't worry about it, I'll pick them up… later." Jace said a bit awkwardly, not wanting to directly mention the impending activities for the afternoon.

At lunch, it was clear that no one wanted to discuss that topic. There was a strange, tense silence hanging in the air. They only sounds in the kitchen were those related to eating.

"So what's everyone going tonight? I thought we could go see Simon or something?" Clary suggested, finally breaking the silence.

"Oh, well, Simon and I were going to go on a date… Just the two of us," Isabelle replied, her voice apologetic, but her face and body language demonstrated her excitement.

"That sounds fun! Alec, do you want to do anything?" Clary asked.

"I have plans too," was all he said in response. Clary noticed a look between Alec and Jace and was about to say something, but Jace spoke first.

"Looks like you're stuck with me tonight!" He said cheerily, "What would you like to do?"

"Surprise me," Clary said with a wink.

"There goes my appetite," Isabelle said, getting up from her seat to wash her already cleared plate.

"I think I'm going to go too," said Alec, also getting up to leave.

Jace wrapped his arms around Clary. "Oooh, alone time in the kitchen!" He joked. Isabelle blanched.

"If I ever see your bare butt on my counters, you'll be scrubbing the entire institute with a toothbrush!" Maryse said, coming through the kitchen door. Clary froze, blushing profusely.

Still feeling mischievous, Jace bent down and whispered softly in Clary's ear, "She didn't say anything about _your_ bare butt." Clary managed the impossible and blushed even harder. Maryse just gave Jace a look of mock consternation.

"There are throwing stars all over the weapons room," Maryse said to Jace, her instructions for him clear. He kissed Clary on the top of her head and gave her hands a reaffirming squeeze. He was trying his best to let what Alec said put him at ease. Softening her expression as she looked to Clary, Maryse asked, "Are you ready?"

Clary nodded her head and followed Maryse out of the kitchen. She knew how to get to the library, so she assumed Maryse was escorting her to make sure she actually went. Upon reaching the door however, she discovered the other reason for the escort. "Turn out your pockets please Clary," Maryse requested politely and somewhat awkwardly. Clary complied. "It's not that we don't trust you, its just procedure." Then she proceeded to pat down Clary's legs. "I will also need your stele." Clary gave the woman a pleading look, but handed it over without a word, knowing better than to argue. "You'll be alright, I promise." Maryse said, giving Clary's should a reaffirming squeeze before opening the library door. She stepped in and the door closed behind her. Taking a deep breathe, Clary proceeded towards the center of the library where she saw the pale haired boy already sitting. Clary hovered awkwardly behind a chair across from him.

He looked up at her with a nervous smile, "You can sit down over here if you want."

"Here is fine," Clary replied snappily, pulling out the chair across from Jonathan and sitting down.

"I thought we might start with some a lesson about the history of shadowhunters?" Jonathan suggested. He seemed nervous, and that made Clary suspicious.

"I've already done a lot of history work," Clary replied.

"Oh, uh, well, then what would you like to study?" Jonathan asked.

"Runes," Clary answered.

"I can't really teach you that, it's just a lot of reading, memorizing, and copying from the books," Jonathan said.

"I know," Clary retorted, contempt clear in her voice.

"Oh, well, I guess it's important to study so that you can get your permanent marks," Jonathan replied weakly.

Clary was so thrown off by this that she almost felt bad for him. Almost. "Listen, let's not kid ourselves. We both know that I don't want to be here and we both know that I don't trust you. The last interaction we had before I… stabbed you was you trying to force me to drink demon blood to turn me into some kind of hybrid freak. The last time we were alone, you tried to rape me. My… our mother says you've change, but I have no reason to believe that that is true. So until you can prove that to me, and I don't really know how that will be done, I don't have much to say to you."

A silence so great filled the library when Clary finished speaking that she began to hear a ringing in her ears. Jonathan was looking at her, processing what she had said. She was watching him even more closely, looking for even the tiniest hint or flash of rage to fly across his features as she had seen in him before.

After what felt like half an hour has passed, Jonathan finally spoke. "Thank you for being honest with me. I know you held no good feelings for me, so it is reliving to know what you actually feel. I understand why you feel this way, and while I do not know how to prove to you that I am different, I hope that over time that becomes apparent." Clary only nodded to show that she heard what he had said. "I guess you know where everything is, I'll be here if you have any questions." With that, Clary set to work, the remainder of her two hours flying by.

Jonathan let her know when the time was up, and Clary gave him a nod and a curt "Thanks." She put away the things she was using and headed towards the door. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Jonathan sitting sideways in his chair looking down at his lap. In a flash of guilt, Clary stopped and added, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

He looked up at her, smiling nervously, "I can't wait!"

Shocked by the genuine enthusiasm and still suspicious of the boy, Clary gave him a weak smile back and slipped out the door. She almost found herself falling back into the library though as she crashed into a solid figure on her way out. A pair of strong, familiar arms caught her though, preventing her from falling as they closed the door behind her.

"Jace!" Clary exclaimed in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"I was coming in to make sure you were okay. When you didn't come out right away, I began to worry," he replied, loosening his grip on her now that she was steady on her feet.

"When I didn't come out right away? Were you sitting her the whole time?" Clary asked, accusation tingeing her voice. She wasn't quite sure what she was accusing him of, she had suggested that he stay out here earlier in the morning.

"Not the whole time. I cleaned up the mess you left in the weapons room first and Maryse chased me away once," Jace replied.

"You told me to leave the weapons room that way, that you were going to clean it up!" Clary protested, deciding to avoid going back to why she seemed upset about Jace sitting outside the door.

She had no such luck. "Why did you accuse me of waiting for you?" Jace asked. Clary couldn't read any sort of tone in his voice. It was maddeningly neutral.

"Because you have better things to do with your time than wait around for me," she rpied.

Jace stepped in front of Clary and stopped abruptly. Stooping down to look straight into her eyes he said slowly, "I have nothing more important to do than keep you safe."

Clary blushed in response. She never really knew how to reply to Jace's proclamations of love. Instead she stood there feeling stupid, wishing she could come up with these romantic declarations as frequently and beautifully as he could. "I love you," was all she could manage, but apparently that was enough for Jace. He enveloped her in a hug and held her close.

Alec took a deep breath before he pushed the buzzer. He wasn't quite sure he was ready for this, but he had made it this far and really couldn't turn back now. "Come up." The voice said dully from the speaker. The lock clicked open and Alec pushed in the door. He walked up the stairs that had seemed so familiar only a month ago –less than that—full of apprehension. He knocked on the door and heard footsteps approaching. The door opened and Alec's heart jumped into is throat upon seeing the man standing there.

"Well are you going to just stand there or are you going to come in?" Magnus Bane asked. Alec realized he'd just been standing there stupidly and walked into the apartment. "I know you didn't leave anything behind, so what are you really here for?"

"I just wanted to talk," Alec said, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"Well then talk," Magnus replied, taking a seat on the couch and gesturing towards a seat across from him.

Alec gratefully took the seat. "I just wanted to apologize again for what I did. The more time that passes, the more I am horrified by my actions. What I had been contemplating – what I almost _did_—was not only selfish, but it was basically murder. Allowing you to die, even if of old age, is murder, because you are not meant to die. This has been a really dramatic time for me. Four months ago I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life pining after Jace, trying to find a way to be okay with never having my affections returned. And then the impossible happened. I met you, and even though I was so stubborn and resistant, you kept at it. Finally I came to my senses, and being loved by you was the best thing to _ever_ happen to me. And I threw it all away." He fell silent.

"If you want to apologize, then do so," Magnus said.

"What?" Alec asked, confused.

"You said you wanted to apologize, but you haven't yet. If you want to apologize, you need to actually do it," Magnus explained.

"I'm sorry," Alec said, and then another flood of words came rushing out. "I'm sorry for being so selfish. I'm sorry for being so greedy. I'm sorry for seeming so distant, so uncaring. I'm sorry for not even asking what you wanted."

"Well, I guess that's a start," Magnus sighed, "But you have a long way to go."

"Maybe this will help," Alec began, needing to take another breath. This next admission was going to take a lot out of him. "I'm sorry I never really opened up to you. I was just so scared all the time. I was scared of who I was, I was scared of what would happen to me when I finally admitted the truth. I was scared that you wouldn't want to wait around for me. I was scared of loving you. I was scared of losing you. I never knew how to show affection, I only saw my parents and the way Jace would treat the string of girls he didn't care about. I was scared of giving you too much of myself and getting hurt. But I've learned that I hurt too, despite the distance I kept, because loving someone hurts. I think it's supposed to hurt, because the person you love is also the one who makes the pain go away," Alec explained.

"Alec, stop." Magnus said sternly. "You're not going to change my mind in a night. I've lived too long and seen too much for that to happen. But you know that I still love you."  
Alec looked as if he were about to cry, but his tears did not fall. "I understand," he replied softly, getting up to leave.

"Where are you going?!" Magnus asked, stunned.

"You don't seem to want me here anymore, so I thought I'd let myself out," Alec answered.

"You really need to work on your listening skills. I was not dismissing you. In fact, I was going to ask if you wanted to get some dinner," Magnus said.

A giant grin spread across Alec's face, "I'll buy."

**A/N:** There! A little gift for the Malec fans as an apology. Now I'm setting off to start writing the next chapter now! Enjoy!


	8. Chapter 8: Dresses and Disappearances

Fallen Angels Rise

**A/N: **Well, I feel like a jerk! I thought I hadn't been getting reviews, but it turns out that my email had just decided that I was being spammed because there were so many reviews, follows, and favorites! Hopefully you like this chapter, I was trying to just get more of the story out (it's only been one week, not two!) so I wasn't able to touch on everything that everyone wants to see.

**Chapter 8: Dresses and Disappearances **

Clary glared at her alarm clock, it always ruined such wonderful dreams. She smashed the snooze button and pulled the covers up over her head. Seconds later she was freezing cold, the comforter having been ripped off of her. "Oh no you don't! You need to learn to get up on time," Jace said. Clary only curled into a ball and grunted at him. He rolled his eyes before picking her up and carrying her into the bathroom. He stood her on her feet and made sure she would stay that way.

"Can I at least get a kiss?" Clary asked. Jace obliged her, cradling her head in his hands and kissing her softly. Clary smiled into the kiss, even as he broke it off. She looked at him dreamily and he smiled back at her.

"I'll have your breakfast ready in ten minutes, be in the kitchen by then or Alec gets your bacon," Jace threatened, only have jokingly.

"Aye-aye, Captain," Clary saluted. He walked out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Clary looked at herself in the mirror. It was Friday, and she was tired. Her first lesson with Jonathan had only been on Monday, but it felt like so long ago. She didn't think she could look at any more runes, and she knew she'd have to give in and cooperate more fully soon too. Today wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that she was dreading weekends for the first time in her life. Weekends now meant she would be sleeping at Luke's, alone. She had already grown accustomed to Jace being next to her at night, so weekend nights were going to be difficult. Looking at her watch, she realized she'd already wasted five of her ten minutes. Jace may have been using a pretend threatening tone, but Clary knew he really was powerless to stand between Alec and bacon.

She hurried through her morning routine and ran down to the kitchen to find a plat of food and Alec staring at his watch, counting down the seconds until he could take her food. "Just in time!" Jace said cheerily. Clary could not figure out why he was in such a good mood this morning, and she wasn't sure if she was eager to find out.

She took her plate over to her regular seat and was about to drown everything in maple syrup when she glanced over at Alec. He was looking at her plate longingly. Feeling guilty, Clary handed him a piece of bacon, his entire face brightening as he accepted the offer. Feeling as if she had been tricked, Clary poured the syrup on her French toast, letting it ooze to the edges of the plate. Alec wouldn't touch anything that had been covered in syrup.

"Whoa! Who cooked breakfast? I thought Mom had to be somewhere this morning," Isabelle said, sniffing the air.

"Jace made it all. But he didn't make enough bacon," Alec replied glumly. He tried to sneak a piece off of his sister's plate, but she swatted his hand away.

"What's the occasion? Did you finally get laid last night?" Isabelle joked. Clary blushed a very dark shade of red. She made a mental note to keep Jace from being so obvious whenever _it_ did happen.

"Nope, just in a great mood this morning! Looking forward to the afternoon especially though," Jace replied.

"What's going on this afternoon?" Clary asked, racking her brains for the event that she had apparently forgotten.

"_You_ don't have lessons this afternoon," Jace answered with a smirk. It took Clary another few seconds and then her memory clicked.

"Oh yeah! The dress fitting! She scheduled it so long ago that I had forgotten!" Clary explained.

"Your mom isn't going to be happy when she figures out that you got to skip your lessons today," Isabelle replied, protecting her plate once again from her brother's advances.

"Oh, I'm sure it'll all be fine. She'll either have already thought of a way to make up the lost time or it won't bother her too much," Clary replied, looking nervously at Jace. She was enjoying his good mood and didn't want to see it dashed so quickly.

"My guess is that you'll be making up the lost time," Alec chimed in, giving up on stealing any more breakfast.

"There's no need to talk about that! Why don't we get an early start on training?" Jace suggested.

"Um, I haven't even _touched_ my breakfast yet," Clary replied. Jace threw himself down in a faux huff and proceeded to stare at Clary with pretend impatience. "Cut it out! I'm trying to eat," she said with a giggle.

The second she finished eating, Jace cleared her plate and dropped it in the sink unceremoniously. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"Do I really have a choice?" Clary asked in half amusement, half annoyance. She thought he had only been pretending to be in such a hurry.

"No, not really. We'll meet you guys in the weapons room," Jace called over his shoulder to Alec and Isabelle, already on his way out the door, dragging Clary behind him.

"Does something seem – of to you? About Jace?" Alec asked, turning to his sister.

"I dunno, but whatever is going on with him, I don't want to go barging into the weapons room after he and Clary have been in there alone," Isabelle said.

"What do you – oh….." Alec blushed.

"Hm, so you're not so clueless anymore! How _did _your date with Magnus go the other night?" She inquired.

"Alec made a sound as if he had chocked on his most recent breath of air. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, come ON! Mysterious "plans," you left wearing your blue scarf, you came back home _covered_ in glitter. Not to mention that reaction you had just now. Spill!" Isabelle demanded.

"I just went over there to talk, that's all," Alec answered.

"When Simon ends up covered in glitter, we did _much_ more than 'talking,'" Isabelle replied.

This time Alec really did seem to be choking, he had been trying to take a sip of orange juice. He flew into a coughing fit, his eyes watering. When he was finally breathing normally again, he turned to his sister. "I did _not_ need to know that."

"Then tell me what happened, or else there's plenty more where that came from!" Isabelle threatened.

"Okay, okay! Spare me, please! I really did go over there to talk – to apologize. Then we went out to dinner. Our booth was very private and it was a long wait. We just found a way to occupy our time," Alec said sheepishly.

"Alec, you dog! A public make out sesh?! I wouldn't have thought you had it in you!" Isabelle teased lovingly.

"It wasn't really public, we were the only ones in the VIP section. Magnus – has connections," Alec replied defensively.

"No need to explain, I was just teasing. But still!" Isabelle grinned at her older brother.

"Can we just go starting training now, please?" Alec asked.

Isabelle rolled her eyes but stood up to take her plate to the sink. To her relief, upon entering the weapons room, Isabelle saw Clary on her back, but only because Jace had flipped her once again.

"Hopefully a demon never attacks you head on, you'll be hopeless!" Isabelle called from the doorway. Alec sniggered behind her as they entered the room.

"Because you were so perfect when you'd only had two months of training!" Jace replied.

"I was better than that!" Isabelle retorted, but it fell on deaf ears. Jace had already helped Clary to her feet again and the assumed their stances. Isabelle watched them for a minute. Jace lunged at Clary, aiming to take her out at the waist. She feigned right, went left, and almost managed to flip over Jace's bent figure in his second lunge, but he caught her in midair. Isabelle was impressed.

Having caught Clary mid-flip, Jace brought her down gently instead of letting her fall to the ground this time. "Don't look now, but I think you've actually impressed Izzy," Jace whispered into Clary's ear as he put her back on her feet.

Clary beamed in response, "You should let me pull that move off this time! That will really impress her!"  
"If I don't try my best, that only hurts you in the end," Jace replied. "Why don't you try being less predictable this time?" He winked.

They took their normal stances, but instead of waiting for Jace to make the first move, Clary took his advice and lunged at him first. He easily avoided the attack with a spin move that took him behind Clary. He then quickly came up from behind her to feign taking her head off, but in the last second, Clary dropped to a crouch and swing around, sweeping Jace's legs out from underneath him, knocking _him_ on _his_ back for the first time. Jumping back up to her full stance and shaking off the temporary deafness brought on by the focus and adrenaline, Clary was met with applause from Alec and Isabelle. She bowed and curtsied, blushing when Jace made a catcall from behind her.

She spun around to face him, slightly nervous about is reaction. "So I guess you have learned something this week."

"I had a very good teacher," Clary replied flirtatiously, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"You're just a very good student," Jace replied, putting one hand on the small of her back and the other in her hair as he leaned down to kiss her. The hand in her hair disappeared for a moment so Jace could flip his middle finger in response to Alec's shouts to get a room.

As a reward for her performance, Clary got to spend the rest of training practicing with the throwing stars. This was quickly becoming her favorite activity and worked as a great motivator to get her through the other parts of training.

When it was time for lunch, Clary and Jace got washed up, but instead of heading to the kitchen with Alec and Isabelle, they went to the elevator to leave the Institute. Jocelyn and Luke wanted to go out to lunch before the fitting.

Stepping outside, the cold air felt like it ran right through Clary as soon as they opened the door. She shivered and leaned into Jace for warmth. He put his arm around her, shielding his girlfriend from the wind as best as he could.

Upon reaching the diner, Clary saw that her mother and Luke were already at a table. "Cary! I've missed you!" Jocelyn announced in greeting ,standing up to hug her daughter.

"I've missed you too mom," Clary replied with a smile. She hadn't really had time to miss her mom, or really even think about her, this week, but seeing her again after having adjusted to living at the Institute did feel a bit odd.

"Jace," Jocelyn said curtly with a small nod a forced smile. Clary had to suppress a laugh. She wished her mom and Jace got along better, but it was always funny seeing Jace be so submissive to Jocelyn. Clary appreciated his efforts though.

Sensing the tension, Luke broke the ice. "So what all did you two do this week?" "I knocked Jace flat on his back!" Clary answered excitedly.

"Once!" Jace added defensively. "I had her on her back much more than that!" Realizing what he'd said and receiving an odd look from Jocelyn, he added, "In training that is. Just training!" Clary snorted. Jocelyn could get almost anything from "new Jace." Once Clary had moved into the Institute, Jace had decided to take a new approach with Jocelyn.

"How are your lessons with Jonathan going?" Jocelyn asked, leaning in eagerly.

Buying herself some time to think of an answer, Clary took a long drink from the glass of water the waitress had just brought her. "They're going well. I'm learning a lot, but I've only had four lessons with him," Clary finally responded.

"Oh that's right! I had told him you wouldn't be there today, but that you'd make up time on Monday. He said he's plan something special for your longer lesson," Jocelyn said with a smile. Apparently Clary had said just enough to please her other. No one would ever need to tell Jocelyn that Clary had been spending this time working by herself and ignoring her brother.

"I can't wait to find out what it is," Clary replied, suppressing a groan as she tried to keep her voice as even as possible.

"You'll have to let me know afterwards, I'm interested too," Jocelyn said. Then, surprising everyone, she turned to Jace and asked, "What's this I hear about finding a weapon for Clary to have as a speciality?"

"Uh, um, well…" Jace stuttered.

"Mom, it's okay. You don't need to—" Clary broke off midsentence when her mother interrupted her.

"I asked Jace the question. How am I ever going to get to know him if you do all the talking?" Jocelyn asked. She got three open mouth stares in response, but Luke had to quickly hide his shock.

Gaining his voice, Jace managed to answer the question. "I just thought that it was time for Clary to begin training with weapons as well as with her hands. Weapons can be used defensively as well as offensively. But I wanted – hoped she would specialize in a ranged weapon, because then she could attack or defend herself from greater distances," Jace replied. To Clary, his voice sounded strange. Like he was on a job interview or something.

After along, uncomfortable pause, Jocelyn finally spoke. "Well I guess we do have some things in common after all." Realizing that Jace hadn't caught on, Jocelyn elaborated. "We both prioritize Clary's safety."

"That is my number one priority," Jace said, choosing to bite back the scathing end of that sentence. For some reason, Jace just did not thinking that making a dig at Jocelyn and her decision involving Jonathan would be a good idea.

The rest of the lunch conversation went rather smoothly, Jocelyn ever warmed up to Jace a little more by the end of the meal. This was mostly due to the fact that Jace spent the meal actively engaging Jocelyn in conversation about the wedding and wedding plans.

When they had finished their lunch, the group of four made their way to the bridal shop so that Jocelyn and Clary could try on the dresses one last time before the wedding. This time around, Jace was better prepared and well equipped with knowledge of mundane traditions that he was not thrown off by all of the white inside the store. He was about to turn and say something to Clary when he realized that she'd already been dragged of to the fitting room. Luke and Jace quickly relegated themselves to the uncomfortable plastic chairs.

Because she had the less complicated dress, Clary was the first one to come out of the dressing room. The instant he laid eyes on her, Jace was completely transfixed, his face morphed into an expression of awe mixed with lustfulness. He stood up to go to her, but was stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder. Luke turned Jace around deftly, "Give me your stele."

"What? Why?" Jace asked, extremely confused.

"Just because she may _look_ like a shadowhunter bride, doesn't mean you can go drawing permanent, biding marks all over m daughter," Luke replied, his tone light and joking.

Jace hadn't even noticed the color of the dress. The coppery silk fabric the dress was made of shimmered gold in the spotlights. HE groaned inwardly, this new revelation doing nothing to stem his desires.

"I was only kidding before, but now I'm not so sure," Luke paused. "Clary, make him stop."

"Well, do you like it?" Clary asked, her voice breaking Jace's reverie. He nodded his approval and then swirled his finger in a circle to indicate that he wanted her to spin around. She complied, turning slowly on the spot where she stood. Jace swallowed hard, his breath catching in his throat.

"I guess that one will do," Jace finally said, smirking a half smile at Clary, making her blush when he winked.

"Well it looks like it fits. What don't you go help your mother, Clary, and I'll mop up the drool that Jace left behind," Luke suggested, wanting to keep Jace and Clary rom having a moment right in front of him. His comments fell on deaf ears though, because Jace was slowly approaching Clary. Luke winced, bracing himself against a horror he was not prepared to see, but he was saved at the last second.

Jocelyn cleared her throat loudly. She had already changed back into her regular clothes – apparently the dress fit the way it should. Jace and Clary froze where they stood together, turning only their heads towards the sound. Jocelyn said nothing, just raised her eyebrows at them. Clary blushed a violent shade of red, but neither teen moved. "Well, let me see the dress at least!"

Jace released Clary from his arms, and she took a sheepish step away from him so her mother could see the dress. "What do you think?" Clary asked quietly.

Her mother looked her over, a contemplative look on her face. "I don't know, we might have to find a different one," Jocelyn said. She got an incredulous look from Jace, and Clary was about to protest when Jocelyn's face broke into a warm smile. "It's rude to look prettier than the bride you know."

Clary smiled back at her mother, relief unfreezing her features as she went to hug her. "You're just saying that because you have to."

"I'm the bride, I don't have to do anything," Jocelyn replied, returning the hug. "Go get changed, we'll be waiting out here." Clary obliged, and was soon stepping out of the fitting room dressed in her jeans and sweater again.

"So where are you two off to?" Luke asked as they all prepared to leave the shop.

"Aren't you coming back home?" Jocelyn asked, slightly startled.

"Well, Jace and I were gonna go do some Christmas shopping and then maybe go out with everybody tonight before I came home," Clary replied nervously. She hadn't expected her mother to want her home in the afternoon.

Luke pulled out his wallet and handed Clary some money. "Don't stay out too late, okay?"

Clary smiled back at him, "I'll keep my normal curfew. Thanks Luke!" Then she and Jace left the shop.

"You spoil her too much," Jocelyn chided lightly.

"Well it's not like she can have a job or anything now. Besides, maybe I _want_ to spoil her," Luke replied. Jocelyn only laughed.

Clary and Jace were trying to figure out where they wanted to start their shopping when his cellphone began to ring. It was Maryse, and before Jace could even say hello, Clary could hear her speaking frantically. "Jace? Jace where are you?"

"I'm fine, is everything alright?" Jace asked.

"Where are you?" Maryse asked again.

"I'm out with Clary, we just left the dress shop. We're about to go do some Christmas shopping," Jace replied.

"It'll have to wait. You need to come back to the Institute immediately. Bring Clary with you," Maryse instructed.

"What's wrong? Tell me!" Jace said, his concern growing.

"I'll explain everything when you get here, just hurry back," Maryse replied.

"Alright, we'll be there soon." He snapped his phone shut. "Change in plans, we've got to get back to the Institute. Something seems to be wrong," Jace said to Clary. She nodded and then they turned around to head back to the subway station.

The golden gates of the elevator slide open and Clary and Jace found Church waiting or them just outside the elevator. "Where's Maryse?" Jace asked the cat. Church responded by rolling onto his back and offering up his tummy. Jace scooped the cat into his arms, despite his protesting yowls, and rubbed is belly as he walked off. "My bet is that she's in the library," he said to Clary as she followed him.

Jace put Church back onto the ground upon reaching the library doors. The cat sauntered off as Clary and Jace entered the library and discovered that his guess had been correct. "Oh good! You're here!" Maryse called to the couple. "Come take a seat over here." They did as she asked and settled onto the couch across from Alec and Isabelle.

"So what did we do this time?" Jace asked, assuming a lecture about responsibility and maturity was coming.

"What? Oh! No, you've done nothing wrong," Maryse said reassuringly, but then her features turned very grave. "I have some very urgent and very concerning news."

"Well tell us already! Alec and I have already assumed the worst!" Isabelle explained, her nerves apparent in her voice.

"I'll get straight to the point then. We don't know much, but what we do know is that shadowhunters have been disappearing mysteriously all over the world. Some falling off the grid here and there is normal, but every Institute reported disappearances in the last few months. Every Institute that is, except outs," Maryse said. The room went silent. The four teenagers didn't know what to say. They hadn't actually been told much, but the implications were clear. Something bad was happening.

"I promise I won't go disappearing on you," Jace said with a grin.

Maryse sighed. "This is very serious. Your father and I are very concerned. We think that's something very big going on and that it's just a matter of time before whoever is behind this tries to go after a New York shadowhunter. Our guess is that it would be one of you that they will want, and as such, you are all now bound to the Institute. You may not leave without me or your father with you." Maryse was surprised to hear no push back from her children. She was expecting some kind of a fight. "_Maybe the implications of the new rules hadn't been fully realized yet." _She thought to herself.

"Um, what does this mean for me? I'm supposed to be at Luke's on weekends," Clary pointed out.

"I will have to talk with your mother, but I'm sure that she will understand and agree. She will want to keep you safe, I'm sure," Maryse replied. "Now, I didn't mean to worry you all, but it's important that you all stay vigilant and that you train harder than ever, incase this comes to a fight."

"So you'll let us fight this time?" Jace asked.

"I said _if_ it comes to a fight," Maryse replied. Jace nodded in acceptance, choosing to interpret her words how he wanted. He then stood to leave.

"Come on Clary, let's go get some training in before dinner," Jace said.

"Uh, you go on ahead, I'll be right there," Clary replied. Jace gave her a confused look, but then proceeded to leave, Alec and Isabelle behind him.

"What is it Clary?" Maryse asked when they were alone.

"Well, it's about my b—Jonathan," Clary started.

"There's no need to worry, we're confidence that he has nothing to do with his," Maryse replied.

"No, it's not that. Did you tell him about what's going on?" Clary asked.

"We wanted to check into the matter first and make sure it wasn't him behind this before we said anything, so… No, we haven't Why do you ask?"  
"I – I just have a feeling that it's actually because of him that no one in New York has gone missing," Clary replied.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say Clary. But we know that he's not behind this," Maryse reassured her, though puzzled at the way this conversation was going.

"I'm not saying that he's behind this. I think he might be the one that would have gone missing from New York. That is, they – whoever is behind this – could figure out how to get him out of the Institute," Clary said.

"And you're worried about him?" Maryse asked curiously.

"Well, I – my mother would not be okay if something happened to him," was all Clary said.

"You can rest assured that Jonathan will not be leaving this Institute without some major, irreversible repercussions," Maryse replied.

"Just make she he knows what's going on, okay?" Clary asked. "Please," she added as an after thought, not wanting to seem rude or commanding.

"I will make sure he knows," Maryse said softly. "Now you'd better get off to training." Clary nodded and hurriedly left the library.


End file.
